


Gently Rebuilding

by R_McFart



Series: The Mending Collection [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Women, Female Uchiha Sasuke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:54:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 57,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27295246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_McFart/pseuds/R_McFart
Summary: This is a reimagining of the Naruto universe following a female Uchiha Sasuke. What might change for our protagonists as a result of this difference?
Series: The Mending Collection [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023276
Comments: 14
Kudos: 106





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've finished Shippuden and at times may incorporate *spoilers* for those who have not finished the series. This first chapter isn't very dialogue heavy but I wanted to start from day 1 of Sasuke's life. As the chapters progress it will focus more exclusively on her perspective. Yes.. her. If you missed the tags this is reimagining of what Naruto would look like with a female Sasuke. The Naruto world is a very gendered universe, so I do think that this would have eventual major repercussions. For now, there are no romantic pairings.

When Sasuke was born, no one was more surprised than Fugaku that his “little boy” he was so excited for (not that he would ever admit it out loud) was in fact, a little girl.   
Fugaku had been absent for the birth of his second child, dealing instead with the fallout of a drunken brawl that ended with four chunin in jail. When he received a message that his wife was in labor, he quickly left the paperwork to one of his clansmen and ran home to grab his eldest son Itachi, then over to the hospital. They arrived just moments before a nurse excitedly brought in a small bundle with a tiny tuft of black hair into the hospital room. 

Smiling widely at Fugaku, the nurse brightly exclaimed, “She is in perfect health sir! We’ll keep her here with her mama for the next three days just to be safe but then she will be cleared to go home.”

…she?

He could not quite hide his initial disappointment at that fact, and neither could Itachi. Itachi, who was really _really_ looking forward to a younger brother, couldn’t help but let out a small huff. He and his elder cousin Shisui had decided from the early days when Mikoto first announced her pregnancy that a little boy would the perfect addition to their group. Little girls were just too delicate to hang out with them. Besides, what if she wanted to hang around them all the time and ruin their jutsu practice with something… girly? Not that Itachi or Shisui really knew what girly things were, or why they were bad, but their fathers and other clansmen certainly talked about it like it was a bad thing. 

  
Mikoto, however, was quite happy with the outcome. She knew the desires of her husband and son but had been secretly hoping for a daughter she could impart her wisdom onto in the coming years. As much as she loved her son with all of the love that her heart could possibly hold, Itachi was Fugaku’s pride and joy- a prodigy who would continue to give the Uchiha clan the esteem that they deserved. Mikoto craved the joy that a daughter would bring her, one who could grow up without the same kinds of pressures that Itachi would undoubtedly encounter. Sasuke would learn all of the closely held secrets that Mikoto carried with her from her own mother, and many other matriarchs from the Uchiha lineage. 

  
Eventually Fugaku cleared his throat, “Well, this is a…” he fumbled briefly for words “surprise.”

  
He let out a sigh from the foot of the hospital bed and looked back at his wife. “I’ve already asked permission from Lord Third to use his father’s name. If we choose something different now, we could offend him." He paused and deeply inhaled. "She will be called Sasuke and in time she can grow into such a strong name.” He folded his arms across his chest and nodded, a self-assurance that this was a good plan.

  
Mikoto suppressed a sigh. That was certainly a masculine name. She had been about to suggest something softer like Mei or even Satsuki (a clever play on the more masculine Sasuke she was partial to). She briefly thought to mention that perhaps Lord Third would find it odd or even offensive to give his father’s name to a little girl. Still, she was not about to fight with Fugaku over this. Not when Itachi was in the room and certainly not when she was exhausted after giving birth. Besides, she already knew how her misgivings would end. 

  
Fugaku, for his part, knew it was impossibly hardheaded to give his daughter a masculine name. In the coming weeks, he might even regret his spur of the moment decision. But his heart had been set on having a boy and this, (a daughter? Could she hope to compete with her prodigy brother?) was decidedly out of his comfort zone.

  
Itachi, despite being momentarily stunned and frankly disappointed at the turn of events, felt those feelings melt away as he stared into the dark black eyes of his little sister. She had such soft features, looking more like their mother than father. Although, Itachi himself was quite soft and feminine too, lacking the hard-angular face that made his father look so impressive and proud. Sasuke was looking out into the world she had just been born into, quietly observing the new sights and shapes. Itachi felt a deep love blossom into his heart. He felt quite foolish for his momentary disappointment and decided that a little sister was much better than a little brother. He was sure that Shisui would be convinced of that too once he met her. 

  
Fugaku could sense his wife’s exhaustion.

He looked out the window at the setting summer sun and decided it was time to leave. He gathered his son, kissed his wife on the top of her head, and gave his daughter a quick peck on her soft chubby cheeks before leaving the hospital room. As he was walking out the door, he listened to the quiet coos starting to come out of his daughter’s mouth in her first attempts at communicating with her mother. Much like his son, he too concluded that a daughter would be a welcome addition to their family. 

  
Mikoto closed her eyes and held Sasuke close to her chest. She let her mind wander as the small bundle in her arms brought a deep sense of contentment to her weary body.

* * *

The first few weeks of Sasuke’s life passed by uneventfully, not that she would have remembered anything elsewise. 

  
Announcing to the rest of the clan that the darling boy Fugaku had been so looking forward too was a cute little girl with a round face and soft, deep set eyes was amusing to most. Shisui, along with his father and mother, came to visit and give their well wishes. After quick deliberation with his cousin, both boys decided that yes, a little girl could be a welcome addition to their group, although Shisui still had some doubts about that. He remembered the vicious kunoichi from his academy days who had no reservations about smacking him or his friends when they were being too rowdy. Shisui’s mother, in her wisdom, simply suggested that Shisui be less rowdy if he wished to avoid getting smacked. 

  
After the initial surprise wore off, the Uchiha family settled into their typical routine. Fugaku briefly thought about repainting the deep navy blue color of Sasuke’s nursery to a brighter baby blue, but balked at the extra work that would involve. Days at the police station had been very busy these last few weeks. As summer began to wind down and the signs of cooler nights signaled the quickly approaching autumn weather, the civilian and shinobi residents of Konoha were more than eager to take raucous advantage of the remaining warm weather and tear up the night. They would often find themselves awake the next morning in a large holding cell unsure of how they ended up there but always with a black eye, pounding headache, and vague recollection of some boast they made to another bar patron.

  
Mikoto was adjusting to life as a mother of two now, somewhat surprised by all the extra work she had not accounted for. Her saving grace was that Itachi would soon be starting classes at the academy in the next few weeks.  
All in all, the day to day activities of the Uchiha family were pleasant and quickly passing. 

  
One crisp October day, this pleasant routine changed. 


	2. Chapter 2

On the night of the Nine Tailed Fox’s attack on Konoha, Mikoto and her husband had finally been able to spend some alone time with each other.

Trusting that Itachi was more than capable of watching over Sasuke during their absence, they decided to stroll down the Uchiha complex to a quiet diner where they could sit next to each other and reflect over their recent life changes.

Content chatter over the state of the village, what milestone Sasuke just reached in her development, Itachi’s blossoming genius, and the rowdy actions of the residents of Konoha carried the date night into the early hours of the evening.

During the middle of their conversation, both Fugaku and Mikoto began to sense an ominous aura in the air surrounding them. In the blink of an eye, this quiet evening was transformed into a nightmare.

The Nine Tailed Fox appeared in an instant in the center of the village, thrashing around on a rampage. Fugaku rushed over to the police station to coordinate the response of the Uchiha. Mikoto’s kunoichi background kicked in as she started to evacuate civilians to the Hokage Stone Faces.

* * *

Back at the Uchiha residence, Itachi felt a strange power permeate the atmosphere around him. He picked up Sasuke and stepped outside, carefully holding the precious bundle in his arms. He had hoped the fresh air would take away the strange feeling around them, but in mere moments an alarm rang out and a giant orange beast appeared in the distance. He heard a roar bellow out and terror ran through him. In his arms Sasuke began to cry out, unable to handle the strange feeling and loud noise.

“It’s okay Sasuke, you’re a little scared right now huh? We’re going to be okay. We just have to get to safety.” Itachi tightened his grip on Sasuke and ran down the street.

Behind him he felt the force of something large crash into the ground and heard the bloodcurdling scream of his clansmen being crushed by debris. Over the noise of the carnage Itachi could hear Sasuke’s scream pierce straight through, reminding him of the task at hand.

He turned around the corner and ran right into a crouched form on the ground. He regained his balance and blinked.

“Izumi! What are you doing here? We have to find shelter.”

It was their distant cousin, Izumi. 

Izumi looked up at the pair with tears streaming down her face. “I can’t find my parents Itachi. I’m so scared, I don’t know where to go.” Her lower lip started trembling and her composure gave way to more crying.

Itachi shifted Sasuke into one arm and held her in place on his hip. “Follow me Izumi, we’re going to the evacuation area.” With his free hand he reached out to Izumi, grabbing her hand, and resuming their run to safety.

Behind the trio, screams and thuds continued to haunt them until they reached safety.

* * *

In the end, Lord Fourth perished sealing the Nine Tailed Fox into a newborn orphaned child.

For many, this child would be the object of their hatred. With no thought of how he inherited his fate, the residents of the village would go on to berate and terrorize the small yellow haired boy blaming him as the vessel of the Nine Tailed Fox.

Mikoto, concerned with the wellbeing of this newly orphaned child sadly watched over him crying from his bassinet in the hospital. Looking down at this baby, known to her and few others to be the child of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze, she felt a deep ache in her heart for him.

She looked down at Sasuke, resting peacefully in her sling.

Silently she bowed her head and said a prayer for the safety and well-being of this boy, she glanced at his name card, _Naruto_.

She smiled sadly to herself, that’s certainly an odd name but who was she to judge.

* * *

In the coming months it became clear that suspicion over the attack was pointed directly at the Uchiha clan.

Slowly but surely, the attitude towards the mighty Uchiha clan was starting to turn sour.

The events that unfolded kept Mikoto lying awake at night for months to come. Night after night she grappled with the fear she had.

She feared for the orphaned child of her dear friend, she feared for the safety of her clan, and deep down inside she felt an unknown fear for her daughter although for what reason she could not be entirely sure. 

Time continued to pass by and while many people had irreparable wounds both physical and mental, the Nine Tail’s attack on Konoha started to become no more than a memory.

For Sasuke, that night was not much more than a vague feeling in her mind, blurring and fading away as the months went on.

* * *

Sasuke stared up at the ceiling from her child sized bed, letting the noises of the outside world flow in from her window and turn into white noise in her brain. She was starting to become more aware of her world and her mumbles were turning from incoherent sounds that only she could understand into words that anyone, not just her family, could identify. A rustle from the hallway made her turn her head. In the distance she could hear her brother slide shut the door leading into their house.

She smiled a wide grin and called out as best she could, “Tachi!”

A happy young boy opened the door to her room and smiled back at her, his warmth shining through. 

Sasuke shakily stood up on her bed and stretched her arms out towards him. Itachi grabbed her firmly underneath her armpits and hoisted her up, giving her a twirl before settling her on his hip. He was much stronger than he appeared, though most shinobi were.

“How was academy Itachi?” Sasuke’s mother asked peering in from the door frame.

“It was fine. Mostly boring. I’ve already learned the jutsus.” Itachi responded shrugging his shoulders. He snuggled his face against his baby sister before handing her off to their mother.

Mikoto took Sasuke in her arms and looked back at Itachi.

“Have you packed everything up? We’re moving over the last of our boxes tonight.” There was a slight strain to her voice and a hardness in her jaw.

Sasuke couldn’t pick up on this, but she did notice how her mother gripped her arm forcefully when she said these words.

“Ouch mama!” Sasuke shouted.

Mikoto startled. “Oh! Are you alright? I’m sorry, does it hurt?” She rubbed Sasuke’s arm gently with her finger, her affection seeping out.

Sasuke didn’t reply, she just snuggled in closer savoring the attention she was getting from her mother.

“I helped father move the last of my stuff last night. The only things left are in Sasuke’s room. Once that’s packed up, everything will be at the new compound.” Itachi was still a young boy, but he was incredibly perceptive. He didn’t miss the strain that was apparent in his parents as they were relocated to the outskirts of town.

He also didn’t miss the whispers of surveillance and secret monitoring of the Uchiha's activities that his clansmen were going on about.

“Good. Don’t think that all of this extra moving around gets you out of doing your homework though.” Mikoto said sternly looking down at him.

“Of course not mother. I won’t fall behind.” He grinned back at her.

Sasuke looked up from snuggling to face her brother. They had gone on long enough without paying attention to her.

“Play with me ‘Tachi!” she shouted out, still not quite in control of her volume. She ran out of her mother’s arms and grabbed her stuffed dinosaur, bringing it towards Itachi.

He poked her in her forehead. “I can’t right now, mother just told me not to slack on my homework. But I can play with you over the weekend when classes are out.”

“Ahh mama can’t you let him play?” she whined up at her mother. Mikoto shook her head. “Itachi’s busy, but why don’t we do something together?”

Sasuke supposed that was the next best thing so she stood up and grabbed her mother’s hand. She let Mikoto change her into her mother’s favorite navy sundress and put her hair into stubby pigtails.

“I can put my own shoes on mama.” She proclaimed proudly, ready to impress.

“Alright, let’s see it then.” Mikoto smiled down at her.

Sasuke slipped her feet into the sandals and glanced up at her mother.

“Very good Sasuke sweetie.” Her mother slipped her own shoes on and picked Sasuke up in her arms. Typically, she would let Sasuke walk on her own but their destination today would be quite far.

“I don’t think I mentioned where we were going, did you want to try and guess?”

Sasuke loved playing these guessing games. Mikoto played them with her to try and get Sasuke to develop a sharp, shinobi worthy mind.

Sasuke thought about it. Her mother had already gone to the market this week so that wouldn’t be it. It wasn’t any type of special occasion so a walk to the convenience store for treats was also not the answer. She thought harder.

Mikoto walked along in silence. She knew that eventually Sasuke would get the answer, she certainly had dropped hints earlier.

“I know! You’re taking me to the new compound. You were talking about it with Itachi just a little bit ago!”

“Smart girl, I knew you’d get it.”

Sasuke smirked, prideful at having impressed her mother.

It was finally happening; the clan had struggled through temporary repairs and makeshift fixes until the new compound was built. Sasuke had not yet been to the new house they would be moving into and was excited to see her room.

As she was being carried along, she started to wonder when they would get to their destination. After more than 20 minutes of walking towards the outskirts of the village, Sasuke soon wondered if perhaps their new compound wasn’t even inside the village.

As the giant trees outside the village walls came closer and closer into view, Sasuke was certain her guess was right.

Finally, she saw the white walls decorated with the Uchiha fan.

They had reached their destination.

There was very little activity in the newly constructed compound but Sasuke could see the movement of some women and children starting to move their belongings into their homes.

They stopped in front of a wide house that Mikoto explained would be theirs.

After exploring for a bit, Sasuke helped her mother begin to unpack the boxes that were already dropped off earlier by her father.

She would like this quiet home, secluded from the noise of the village.

* * *

As Sasuke continued to grow, life was mostly calm.

She learned all about the great clans of Konoha from her mother, noting with pride that the Uchiha were co-founders of their great village.

She attempted to learn jutsu from her father, but he had decided that it was not easy to teach a child who didn’t pick up on his lessons the very first time. That hurt Sasuke, but she resolved to power through spending hours of her day learning hand signs and practicing molding her chakra.

When they had free time, Sasuke would hang around Itachi and Shisui. If she bat her eyelashes in a particularly cute manner, they would give in and practice throwing shuriken with her.

“Sasuke! You’re too cute.” Shisui would exclaim when she became too pouty.

“Hn. I’m not cute, I’m a young kunoichi in training, a deadly force!” Sasuke would yell back teasingly, but she relished the compliments her family would give her loving the warmth that would spread in her heart when she heard those words.

When they were busy, which Sasuke noted seemed to be occurring more and more often, she would ask her mother for help with training.

Once Itachi graduated from the academy he had even less time to spare for his little sister.

On one particularly slow morning, Sasuke was practicing throwing three shuriken at once, attempting to hit the bullseye of three separate targets. It was, to say the least, not going well.

She let out a gargled moan and went to find her mother.

“Mama, can you help me train? I can’t seem to get it right.” She whined at her mother who was sitting quietly at the table pouring over some papers.

“Hmm? Not right now Sasuke. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

That was surprising to Sasuke. “Didn’t you quit being a kunoichi when Itachi was born? What are you working on?” She inquired.

“Well, I did quit from being a kunoichi but being married to the clan head comes with lots of responsibilities.” She stated, continuing to look down and write on the papers in front of her.

“Like what?”

“For example, now I’m trying to work out the finances to buy more supplies from Granny Cat.”

 _Granny Cat?_ That wasn’t a name Sasuke had ever heard.

“Who’s Granny Cat?”

“Granny Cat runs the supplies shop where we buy our weapons from. It’s near the hideout where we stockpile supplies. I used to send Itachi there all the time when he was younger but these days he’s so busy working with his team.” Mikoto sighed.

“I could run errands for you.” Sasuke exclaimed eagerly, hoping to take over one of Itachi’s roles

Mikoto looked up from her work. “That would be great actually. When I’m done writing down our supply order, you can drop it off for me.” She smiled at her daughter.

Sasuke went to put on her shoes and patiently waited for her mother to hand over the list.

Mikoto came over with a sealed envelope. “I don’t want you to open this until you reach Granny Cat’s okay? It’s secret information.” She passed the unassuming white envelope to Sasuke’s outstretched hands.

“I won’t.” Sasuke looked down seriously at the envelope. _This is like a real-life mission_ , _I can’t fail!_

She bounded towards the door before stopping suddenly. “Oh. I don’t actually know where I’m going.”

“I thought that might be the case.” Mikoto passed a map to Sasuke. “I know you haven’t started at the academy yet, but you should be able to read this well enough to get there.”

She pointed her finger at a location not far from where Konoha was. Sasuke read the name to herself, _Sora-ku_.

“It shouldn’t take you more than an hour to get there and an hour to get back. If you want to spend a little bit of time playing with the kitties, that’s fine but no more than 30 minutes. If you are not back here in _exactly_ 2 hours and 30 minutes, I’m sending the full power of the police force in search of you do you understand?” She stated sternly to her daughter.

“And please, be careful. Sora-ku is an abandoned city. The people that live there still are harmless but private. Don’t snoop around where you aren’t supposed to okay?”

“I understand. I won’t let you down.” With those parting words, Sasuke raced off towards the gates.

Sasuke had only been out of the village a few times, and never for long. This excursion was exciting for her in more ways than one. Not only could she prove to her mother and father that she was just as capable as Itachi, but she was also able to explore outside the village by herself. A huge grin plastered to her face and she raced forward.

Once she was past the village gates, Sasuke took off into a run. She had a funny feeling that her mother’s claim of one hour to reach her destination was based on her mother’s own speed (which was quite fast, and often infused with chakra-a habit from her days as an active kunoichi). The last thing she wanted was to have her father and the rest of the police come out looking for her.

She would glance down at her map occasionally; confident she was heading in the right direction. Despite being an abandoned city, it appeared that the roads were still maintained along the route there.

In a little over an hour, Sasuke _knew_ her mother was wrong in her estimation, she arrived.

She glanced around at the dilapidated buildings and seeing the engraving of an Uchiha fan on one of them, bounded forward.

The doors creaked open, rust flaking off the hinges. The fluorescent lighting was flickering ominously in the hallway.

Sasuke knew shinobi were not supposed to be afraid, but this city was absolutely creepy.

The hallway branched off into two options, one to the left and to the right. _This is great, how am I supposed to find Granny Cat?_

Sasuke briefly thought about using the tried and true “guess and hope for the best” method of choosing when she heard a voice up above her.

“Hmmm, it’s not often we get visitors around here.” Two small figures jumped down in front of her.

Sasuke blinked her eyes in amazement.

“You’re a talking cat!” Sasuke shouted.

“Correction, _we’re_ talking cats.” A light brown cat in a blue kimono with a wide face stated.

“I’m guessing from that fan on the back of your shirt and the fact that you look exactly like Mikoto, you must be an Uchiha. Perhaps her daughter? Hmm?” The other cat, a light brown cat with a lithe face and feminine voice in a red kimono said.

Sasuke stuttered a bit, “Well, yes I am an Uchiha. Uh, and you’re right, Mikoto’s daughter.” She couldn’t believe her eyes. “I’m here on an errand actually.”

She straightened up and composed herself. “I have an important message for Granny Cat. Please escort me to her at once!”

“Oh my, at once huh?” The cat in blue mocked.

Sasuke blushed. “I didn’t mean to be demanding. I just have a time limit.”

“Sure, we’ll take you there.” The cat in red said. “What’s your name, Mikoto’s daughter?”

“I’m Sasuke. And you two are..?” She asked.

“Hina.” The cat in red said.

“Denka.” The other said.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” She bowed politely, unsure of what level of respect these talking cats warranted.

They trotted down the hallway to the left and led her through a twisting maze. Sasuke attempted to memorize their path _A true kunoichi would be able to navigate this maze with ease!_ And eventually they stopped out front of an ornate door with red and gold leaves painted on it.

The cats entered through a cat door flap located to the left of the door, leaving Sasuke alone outside it.

Sasuke knocked.

And waited.

...

And waited.

....

She knocked again.

“Hello? Is Granny Cat here?” she called out. She was starting to get nervous. She arrived later than anticipated and now she was having to wait around for some old lady. She huffed.

Behind the door she heard a floorboard creak. It cracked open just a bit and an eye peaked out.

“Granny Cat? Is that you?” she pushed the door open wider, tired of waiting around.

“Ahh!” the eye flashed back from the opening and Sasuke saw that it belonged to a little girl, not an old lady.

“Who are you?” Sasuke asked.

“Who am I? Who are you? I live here!” The girl shouted and stumbled back, falling down on her bottom.

 _That is a fair point_ Sasuke thought.

“I’m Uchiha Sasuke, I’m looking for Granny Cat. My mother Mikoto has a supply list for her.” She extended her hand towards the girl.

“I’m Tamaki. Granny Cat is my, well Granny.” She smiled and grabbed Sasuke’s hand hoisting herself up.

“I’m on a time crunch. Is she around?” Sasuke looked around the room. It was vibrantly colored and covered in plush cushions.

“She went out to feed all the cats. I don’t know when she’ll be back. Sorry.” Tamaki shrugged her shoulders.

Sasuke felt like screaming. Rule one of delivering sensitive information was that you always made sure it reached your target. She couldn’t just drop the envelope off with Tamaki and hope she delivered it to her Granny. She also couldn’t just wait around for Granny Cat to return.

The gods must have been on her side that day because no sooner than Tamaki had said that, a puff of smoke appeared in front of her.

“So I hear you’ve been looking for me.” An old lady in an orange dress with a cat ear headband looked Sasuke up and down.

“Yes. I have something for you from my mother.” Sasuke handed over the envelope.

“Hmmm. More supplies? Are you Uchiha ever going to pay your debts.”

“I wouldn’t know anything about that ma’am.” Sasuke said with steel in her voice. Was this old lady trying to insinuate her clan was a bunch of in debt thieves?

“Calm down kid. I’ll send you back home with an invoice. Tell your mother she can pay in installments.”

“Thank you, Granny Cat.” She waited while the old lady rustled around for some papers in an old desk. Sasuke tried to think about how long she had spent there already. Why was everything taking so long? And why did her mother give her such a short timeline? This was starting to feel like an impossible task.

Granny Cat wandered back over and passed Sasuke a yellow sheet of paper. “Give that to your mother she’ll know what to do with it.”

Sasuke bowed deeply to her and turned to Tamaki, waving goodbye. Then, she raced out the door and wormed her way back through the maze, pleased that she was able to remember the twists and turns all the way to the front of the building.

She looked up at the placement of the sun in the sky trying to determine the time. It was an inexact science, but she didn’t have to know the exacts to know that she had been there longer than intended.

She raced home, her lungs burning and legs aching. She felt her legs turn to jelly but willed her body to keep moving forward. She saw the outer gates of the village on the horizon, she might make it!

She felt the sudden appearance of a presence behind her.

“You’re late Sasuke.”

She stopped running and placed her hands on her knees, breathing in and out deeply.

“Itachi, why are you here?”

“Mother sent me after you once you didn’t come home.”

“I almost made it.” She whined and fell to her knees trying to get her out of breath breathing under control.

“After you left mother realized she might’ve given you an impossible timeline so instead of sending father after you I came.” He smiled down at her. “If it’s any consolation, you’re only about 15 minutes behind.”

“Plus,” he continued on, “that’s using only your body. Once you start academy and learn chakra control you can infuse chakra in your feet to move faster. I’m impressed you made it so far without that extra boost.”

Sasuke grinned a big toothy grin and pointed her finger at him with a wink. “Make sure you tell father that.”

Itachi laughed and put her up on his back.

“Now I’ll show you how fast you can move using chakra.” Sasuke gripped his shoulders and squeezed her knees together digging into his ribs.

He moved forward in a blur. Sasuke tried to pay attention to her surroundings but all she was able to make out were blurs of different colors. Before she knew it, they were home.

“Mama, I’m back! I almost made it home on time but it took longer finding Granny Cat than I thought it would.”

Her mother poked her head out of the kitchen. “Sasuke thank goodness! I was worried.” She saw the yellow sheet of paper gripped tightly in Sasuke’s hand.

“Is that for me?” she asked.

“Yeah, Granny Cat said you’d know what to do with it.”

“Thank you dear. Now go wash up you’re all sweaty and dirty.”

Sasuke looked down at herself. A bath was certainly in order.

* * *

Sasuke would continue to run errands to Sora-ku successfully taking Itachi’s place in that regard.

In most other aspects, she found herself filling in for roles that were previously Itachi’s at home.

She wasn’t sure what exactly changed but Father was spending a lot more time focusing on Itachi. From what she could understand he had been promoted to a special class of shinobi close to the Hokage, ANBU she heard her mother call it once.

Father was quickly becoming more and more busy at work and with clan issues. Sasuke was pulling out all of the stops to get his attention.

She would burn her fingertips learning clan jutsu to no avail. She would plop herself in his lap at home just to be gently pushed away. She would give him drawings of them together to win him over, but nothing seemed to work.

The biggest sting of all was when he forgot about her first day of academy, stating that he would be accompanying Mikoto to the hideout to make arrangements with Granny Cat the next day.

“But, father, tomorrow is orientation. If you and mother are gone who is going to come with me?”

“Oh." He paused for a moment genuinely surprised. "Sorry Sasuke. You’ll have to take yourself, but you can tell us all about it after we’re back.”

She was sure that Itachi could notice the wet glean of her eyes at that, but he didn’t say anything. Sasuke excused herself from his office.

She went out to the koi pond and threw a handful of food into the water, watching the fish squirm against each other to feed themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, some familiar faces will be introduced in the next chapter.
> 
> I thought it was so cool that the Uchiha had an entire secret hideout in an abandoned city filled with ninja cats and it was glossed over so quickly in the anime. Oh well, I just get to write about it now.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always thought that the kunoichi skills classes would be interesting to learn more about, but whatever special skills they learned there never seemed to get applied in the anime.
> 
> I also can't imagine Sasuke as an outgoing friendly type, no matter what gender. Luckily Ino and Sakura are taking her under their wing.

The first day of academy was entirely uneventful. The relative peace of the last few years had convinced a large number of civilian parents that the shinobi career could be suitable for their children. So many children were enrolled that the incoming class was split into two homerooms.

Sasuke found herself in the homeroom that was comprised mostly of civilian students.

Her father would see this as a slight against the Uchiha, but Mikoto would eventually be able to calm him down enough to let it slide.

The first few weeks of academy were flying by. Sasuke soaked up each lesson, ready to recite all that she learned back to her mother at the end of her day. It was early on in the year, but the sensei were already showering her with praise.

She brought a note back to her mother on the third week of class written by her kunoichi skills sensei.

“Sasuke shows great promise as a skilled kunoichi, she is eager to please and quick to learn. She was the first girl in class to memorize the differences in meaning in odd and even amounts of flowers in a bouquet throughout the five great nations. With her mind, she will go on to great things.”

Her mother read aloud from the note beaming with pride.

Sasuke, somewhere in the back of her mind, questioned why she would ever need to know about the cultural differences of giving and receiving flowers in different nations but it was an area she was exceeding in, so she didn’t complain about it out loud.

She worried that her advancements in this area would not be enough to impress her father who was continuing to make himself more and more distant from Sasuke. So she threw herself into ninjutsu training. That hard work paid off too as she was soon at the head of the class in that subject, even more so than the other few clan children who undoubtedly had the same pre-academy learning from their parents that Sasuke did.

Sasuke excitedly relayed news this to her dad one Saturday afternoon.

“You’ve made great improvement from the time you tried learning fireball jutsu. I expect to see more accomplishments as the year continues.” It was lackluster and made Sasuke’s heart drop into her feet.

“Itachi would’ve been excited” she muttered internally, “too bad he was never around anymore.” Him or Shisui for that matter, or really anybody aside from her mother. Sasuke didn’t stop to think about that too much because it made her feel uneasy.

She soon began to realize that while she was more than prepared for the rigorous learning of the academy, she had failed to learn one basic thing before enrolling.

Her sensei dismissed the class for lunch and a quick recess.

As the students around her gathered and then ran off in groups for lunchtime activities, Sasuke found herself standing alone at her locker. Despite her at ease nature with her family, she found she had no socializing skills outside of interacting with Itachi, Shisui, or her mother.

She slowly opened her locker, pretending to rummage around for something in her bookbag trying desperately to waste time until she could go back to class. Unfortunately, she could only pretend like that for so long, so she grabbed the lunch her mother packed her and headed outside.

Like all the days prior, she ran around to the back of the school and found spot along the tree line to eat her lunch alone.

She knew she didn’t have friends; all of the other children were been able to get along just fine, so she figured something was wrong with her.

It was embarrassing to think about, so she never brought it up at home. Being alone wasn’t the worst, it was better than getting picked on- which happened fairly frequently with the boys in her class.

Sasuke brought this up once to her kunoichi skills sensei after a particularly mean boy called her ugly and pinched her cheeks before running off laughing with his friends.

Her sensei smiled, “Ahh, Sasuke that is just young love. Boys this age show they have a crush on a girl by picking on her, teasing her, or calling her names. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Sasuke thought that was ridiculous but didn’t want to bring it up with her mother either. She felt like she should be ashamed about that too.

Sasuke, despite being teased, wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself and so after a while of this happening with no help from her sensei she took matters into her own hands. She was sick of being teased, and pinched, and prodded and she was going to put an end to it.

During target practice, her homeroom class was lined up to throw kunai. Sasuke was second in line behind an overeager boy with a ponytail. She tried to remember his name before realizing that she hadn’t been paying attention these past few months to know the name of many of her classmates. As she was contemplating this, unsure of what it could mean, she felt a sharp pinch on her bottom. Sasuke jumped up and looked around her stunned. One of the boys who frequently targeted her was wagging his eyebrows at her and moving his thumb and index finger like a crab’s claw.

He opened his mouth to make a smart aleck comment but before he could form the words Sasuke had him pinned to the ground. She held him down in between her legs and using all her skills from combat training began punching him. Hard.

She saw blood gushing out of his nose but didn’t stop her fists from raining down again, and again, and again.

It only took a few seconds for their homeroom sensei to come over and swiftly yank Sasuke off of the boy, but the damage was done.

The rest of the day Sasuke was kept in the principal’s office. Nearby she heard the boy crying from his cot in the nurse’s office.

The principal looked Sasuke square in the eyes, “Now would you mind telling me what possessed you to attack your classmate like that?”

She felt a light blush spread over her cheeks. “He pinched me.” Sasuke knew enough from her mother that one’s bottom was a private area not to be touched by other people, she didn’t want to tell such an embarrassing thing to her principal.

“He pinched you? That’s a bit of an overreaction don’t you think?” He raised his eyebrows skeptically and looked down at Sasuke.

She swallowed a lump in her throat and felt tears at the back of her eyes.

“He pinched me on...” she trailed off before whispering, “my bottom.” She didn’t bother looking up at the principal.

“Ah. I understand. Well why don’t you stay here for the rest of the day. You might want a break from your classes, hmm?” He turned back towards his desk and started scribbling down a note.

Oh this was too embarrassing. She knew that if she was in the principal’s office, her mother would be called, what would she think about this?

The principal left his office and Sasuke sat down deep in her seat. A clock on the wall ticked by steadily.

Sasuke practiced forming hand signs until she heard a click clack of heels coming down the hall. She heard the low murmuring voice of her principal and a higher murmur beside him.

_Ah, that would be mother._

Sasuke sat back up in her chair and plastered a cool, collected look on her face.

Her mother gently pushed the door open and stepped into the office.

“Sasuke?” she asked.

Sasuke lifted her head up and stared back at her mother, not responding.

“I heard about why you’re here. Do you want to tell me in your words what happened?” She quietly cooed at her daughter, reaching out to brush her bangs from her eyes.

Sasuke remained quiet. The clock ticked in the background for a few seconds longer.

“I punched a boy. He was always picking on me and I got tired. He pinched my bottom and I had to fight back, he wasn’t stopping!” Sasuke tried not to let her emotions out but she felt tears well in her eyes.

“I’m glad you stood up for yourself and I’m sorry the sensei didn’t stop it before it came to this.” Mikoto replied.

“Your principal suggested that switching homerooms might be a good thing for you. Apparently, you’ve been eating alone every day. I think that would be for the best. You wouldn’t have to be around that boy anymore either.”

Sasuke didn’t look at her mother, she tried to find a response.

“Sasuke, it’s not a punishment.”

“Hn.”

Mikoto let the silence linger between them, waiting for Sasuke to form her own response.

“I’d like to switch homerooms. I’d like that a lot.” Sasuke felt like crying, whether from relief or the stress of the situation she didn’t know.

* * *

The next day she was switched into a new homeroom class. This sensei had a warm feeling around him and he introduced her to a room full of excitable students.

She sat down in an open seat next to a boy with wild yellow hair and jelly smudged around his face. _How did this boy’s mother let him come to class like that_ she thought?

“Hey. You’re here because you beat up a boy in your other class right?” He turned to whisper to her.

Behind her a girl in black pigtails poked her on the shoulder and said, “I heard he broke his nose really bad. Like, they had to go to the hospital to reset it.”

Sasuke had talked with her father the day before about this incident. He told her that it would be best not to show remorse for her actions or it could come off as weak, an unsuitable trait for their clan.

She turned to her new classmates and stated matter-of-factly, “Yeah, he deserved it. He kept picking on me.” She faced away from them and started taking notes.

The yellow haired boy looked at her. He suddenly shouted out, “Hey! That’s so cool ya know? I like a person that can stand up for themselves!” His voice was jarring and loud, she felt like jumping in her seat.

At the front of the class their sensei shouted, “Naruto! No more interruptions! It’s only the start of the day and you’re already disrupting class. Do you want me to send you to the principal’s office?” Sasuke swore she could see the veins pop out of his head when he yelled at the boy.

The boy, Naruto, mumbled “yeah, yeah Iruka-sensei, I’ll be quiet.” He put his head down on the desk and Sasuke swore she could hear him snoring a few minutes later.

 _He has entirely too much energy_ Sasuke thought, _Father would not like him_.

* * *

Sasuke began to adjust to life in her new homeroom. She followed her typical routine as before. Study quietly by herself, avoid meeting new people, and eat lunch alone. It was best this way really. 

One new thing was happening to her as a result of her assault on the boy from her last classroom. People were afraid of her.

In taijutsu class, all of the little boys wanted to spar with her trying to prove themselves. Sasuke found that she could easily defeat all of them.

The girls in her class became enamored with her cool attitude and strength. She wasn’t sure what to think about it.

One day, while Sasuke was eating her lunch alone a little girl with pink hair came up to her. Sasuke recognized her from her new classes but could not remember anything beyond the fact that she was the same age as Sasuke, not from a clan, and frustratingly good at their beginner genjutsu class.

Sasuke eyed her nervously. If there was one thing her father stressed upon her (in the off chance that he was concerning himself with her at all, which seemed like a rarer and rarer occurrence these days) it was that the Uchiha were a superior clan, and a very proud clan. Associating with a civilian, she could only assume, was beneath her. Still, the girl before her had beautiful eyes and a shy smile that made Sasuke melt a little.

The pink hair covered most of the girl’s face. She was nervously twirling the ends of hair in loops around her finger.

She opened her mouth and then shut it. She paused a few moments before blushing and mumbling out, “You’re Uchiha Sasuke, right? I’m in your class. Um, I noticed that you always eat alone during lunch and don’t hang out with anyone during recess. Would you like to play tag with me and my friend today?”

She hesitated before replying, “I don’t know that I can play with you… my father is very strict.” Upon saying this she saw the brightness fade from those aqua eyes and Sasuke felt a pang of guilt. “But you know.” She stuttered out uncharacteristically “if we hang out at school, my father won’t find out!”

The pink haired girl looked back with apprehension on her face. Sasuke felt herself blushing. Besides, she rationalized to herself, she often saw this girl with Yamanaka Ino.

Now _that_ was a name she remembered from her mother’s teachings. If her father ever found out about her secret friend, she could always shield herself with the blond girl. After all, making connections with other clans had to be important right?

The girl let out a soft, shy smile. “My name is Sakura by the way.”

 _That is a beautiful name that seemed to fit the young pink girl_ Sasuke thought to herself.

“I like that! It fits you and your hair color!” Sasuke let out a small chuckle. “I’m Uchiha Sasuke, but I guess you probably already knew that.” _Duh_ , Sasuke thought to herself, _she only came over here and addressed you by your name._

Sasuke packed up the remainder of her lunch and followed this girl, Sakura, over to the playground.

The blonde girl that Sasuke had remembered as Yamanaka Ino, was waiting for them.

“Hey! I’m Ino. I think it’s really cool that you beat up that boy in your other homeroom class. You can’t let boys get away with things like that.” She stated matter-of-factly placing her hands on her hips and nodding along.

Sasuke smiled, “Yeah, he had it coming. I like my new homeroom class anyways.”

Sasuke volunteered to be the tagger, happy to have been invited over, even though she kept her cool about it.

The three girls decided that Sakura, as the weakest taijutsu user, could get a 10 second head start before Sasuke started chasing after her, and Ino would get a 5 second head start. The three girls continued to play together until their sensei called them all back in for class.

Sasuke smiled the rest of the day. Although she tried to hide it as best she could, Iruka sensei couldn’t help but notice the quiet, reserved girl was making friends. It warmed his heart. _Maybe her abysmal cooperation marks will start to improve_ he thought silently to himself.

As she raced home from academy that day, Sasuke felt lighter than she had in the past few days since switching homerooms.

She bounced in through the front door and yelled out a chirpy, “I’m home!” while taking her shoes off and dropping her book bag off in her room down the hall.

She sauntered over to the kitchen where her mother was washing rice in preparation for dinner.

“You certainly seem energetic today. Was it a good day at the academy?” Her mother asked.

Sasuke, who had intended to keep her new friends a secret, looked around the room. She glanced back towards the door and only seeing her mother’s and her own shoes decided she could say something.

“Well, classes were fine but I actually met two new friends. They’re in my homeroom class.” She paused before quickly adding, “One of them is from the Yamanaka clan!” trying to impress her mother. She added in quieter, “The other one is a civilian girl. Try not to tell dad, please I don’t think he would approve.”

Mikoto looked up from her rice, surprised. “Sasuke, I’m glad to hear that you’re making friends. Your sensei have been telling us that you’re always alone, it’s very lonely going through life without these bonds.”

Mikoto set the bowl of freshly washed grains of rice aside and grabbed her knife. She was unsure of how to continue, or if she should. Clan politics have been tense lately to say the least. She knew that there’s no way forward that didn’t include a revolution. She pulled out her wooden chopping board and started slicing into an eggplant.

“I know that your father has been distant lately, there’s just so much going on that he needs to address as clan head.”

She paused for a moment, the quiet methodical chops of her knife never stopped.

“I know that he stresses the importance of loyalty to the clan above all else. Your father would tell you that external friendships are important if for no other reason than to announce to the rest of Konoha that we are still here, and we are important contributors to this village.”

She cuts down hard, pushing the knife into the wood of the chopping board.

“I want you to know that you don’t have to be perfect. Whatever road that the rest of us are going down, I just want you to be happy.”

“Fugaku… your father… he keeps telling you to be strong, goading you to try and surpass Itachi and I want you to know above all else that I don’t expect that from you. Okay? It’s okay to be weak. There is nothing wrong with being soft.”

Sasuke was not at all expecting her mother to say something like this. She couldn’t understand what her mother was trying to say. Was she saying that she was too weak to beat her brother?

“Mama, I don’t understand what you’re saying? Is it bad to have friends? Are they going to make me weak?” She asked her mother, who was looking down at the eggplant on her board.

Mikoto sighed. “No Sasuke, friends don’t make you weak. I just want to tell you that having friends can make life more enjoyable. There’s more to living than training everyday and trying to live up to your father’s expectations. You should do things for yourself more often. I support you doing that. I think it’s wonderful that you have two new friends. You should cherish them.”

Sasuke, still feeling like she was missing some important meaning in her mother’s words, chose instead to lock this conversation away in her mind and focus on the fact that her mother was okay with her making friends, and a _non-clan_ friend at that.

Still, Sasuke could sense that her mother was stressed. She didn’t know why or what she could do to change that so she took out the pot and dumped the rice into it, filling it with water. “I’ll help you make dinner, mama. Are Itachi and Father both coming home tonight?”

Mikoto gave a small, fake, smile. “Yes, they should both be home tonight.”

* * *

As it turned out, neither man went home that night. At least, not in time to make it for dinner.

Fugaku didn’t bother sending a note home explaining his absence, which was becoming a more and more common occurrence that made Mikoto feel uneasy. She saw an Uchiha man in his lieutenant’s uniform walking past their home. She stopped him and he informed her that Fugaku was staying later at the station, apparently catching up on some paperwork.

Itachi came home about two hours after his mother and Sasuke had eaten and cleaned up their meal. He closed the door silently behind him and wandered into the kitchen.

Mikoto stopped him as he reached into the fridge searching for leftovers.

“You’re home awfully late. You missed dinner yesterday too. Sasuke is really starting to miss you.”

He shut the fridge door. _I’ll just grab some dango before the shop closes_ he decided.

“Sorry mother, I had another ANBU meeting.” He didn’t meet her eyes. “Is Sasuke still here, I didn’t see her shoes?”

“She went to practice her fireball jutsu. It still isn’t as big as yours or fathers and she’s really beating herself up about it. Maybe you could go down to the pier and give her some pointers.” Mikoto’s lips were pressed tersely together. It seems like Sasuke hadn’t yet fully listened to her advice.

Itachi suppressed a sigh. He really was ignoring her a lot these days. It couldn’t hurt to at least say hello to her.

He went back towards the door and put his shoes on leaving as quietly as he had come in.

Itachi stopped and grabbed dango before finding Sasuke down at the pier.

Sasuke was standing at the end of the dock, her hands rapidly forming sign after signe to make the fireball jutsu.

She inhaled deeply and blew out.

He noted her marked improvement with chakra control and timing as the fireball lit up in the distance.

“Sasuke. It’s starting to get late out, are you still training? You should be getting ready for bed.”

“Hn.”

 _Ahh, she’s mad at me._ Itachi thought.

“Your jutsu has really improved but I have a trick that can help you use your chakra more effectively.”

Sasuke scowled but ultimately paused her hand motions. “What is it?”

Itachi smiled, “you have to start building up your inhale before you finish making the signs to that the instant you form the last seal you release your breath. That will cause the fire to burn hotter and larger. It’s all about timing with this one.”

Sasuke took a deep breath and exhaled. _Okay, let me try it._ She focused.

Sasuke started to breathe in deeply, focusing on the pit of her stomach while forming the necessary hand signs. When she formed the last sign she breathed out, syncing the two movements.

A large fireball exploded out of her mouth and lit up the horizon.

Sasuke looked back, beaming with pride.

Itachi poked her on the forehead and he continued to watch while Sasuke practiced to perfect the technique. 

When the sun set, they walked home. Sasuke held onto his hand while he stared out into the distance.

* * *

Sasuke was reading a book Sakura had recommended to her. It was short and sweet, something about a princess falling in love with a prince of an enemy nation, despite her parents wishes. In the end love overcame the differences to let them be together. _That’s silly_ she thought to herself _there was no action or fight scenes at all_. She hoped that Sakura wouldn’t ask how she liked the book, not wanting to lie and not wanting to tell her new friend that it was in fact, very boring.

Sasuke heard shouting out her window and saw Itachi fly off the front step. She raced out front in time to see three policemen cornering him. Her father came out of nowhere and attempted to settle whatever quarrel was occurring.

She stepped closer and stopped in her tracks. 

Sasuke only caught the last words of the exchange but it was more than enough to send her into a spiral.

Shisui was dead. He had been for at least a few days and no one told her. She felt like screaming.

Worse than that, her clansmen were trying to blame Itachi for it.

She was young but death was no stranger to her. She had been told of the horrors that were involved with being a shinobi, she had been to a grandmother’s funeral even.

Her mind couldn’t handle the idea that Shisui, young and friendly and like a brother to her, was just gone. Dead.

 _Suicide_? That wasn’t a word she knew. She would’ve asked her mother, but her mother hadn’t even told her that he was dead. Why?

Itachi glanced back at her, eyes cold like steel. It took her breath away.

Sasuke ran back to her room and offered up a prayer for Shisui’s spirit.

After careful deliberation, she prayed for Itachi as well.


	4. Chapter 4

Sasuke gripped the shuriken in her hand. Jumping up into the air she sensed her surroundings and released at the critical time.

A ‘thunk’ sounded in unison as her shuriken hit her three separate targets. _This is starting to get too easy_ she smirked. She would have to convince Itachi to teach her a new trick.

She saw the shadows cast by the massive trees around her and realized with a shock she was later than expected.

“Shoot!” she exclaimed out loud.

She was going to be late. Since Shisui’s death her mother was always concerned about her whereabouts, throwing herself into a panic if Sasuke was not where she was supposed to be.

Sasuke understood that. Things had been tense, even she could see that.

She ran down the road towards the compound, her pigtails bouncing with every step. The open toe of her sandals slipped out from under her and she fell hard before the gates of the Uchiha compound. Rocks dug into her knees and palms.

She pushed herself up, flustered at that uncharacteristically clumsy move. Vaguely she was surprised no one had come to help her up, it wasn’t that late out even though the sun had long set and was now dark. She stepped into the compound,

and felt the ground squish beneath her.

What?

She was frozen in her tracks. A red pool illuminated by the moonlight was glimmering beneath her feet. Her eyes slowly followed it back to its source.

“Auntie?”

“Uncle?”

Their bodies were lying on the ground, slashed open and tossed unceremoniously on top of each other.

Her mouth dropped open. A silent shout got caught in her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut but the image of their dead bodies was seared into her mind.

Her thoughts flashed immediately to her family.

She raced back home trying to block out the sight of dead bodies and kicked open the front door.

She barreled into her house.

“Mother, Father?” she called out.

There was no response.

She peered into the living room and saw their dead bodies slumped. Itachi standing behind them.

“Itachi, something terrible is happening I don’t know w-“ she was cut off by a kunai flying straight towards her. She ducked instinctively.

“What are you doing?”

Another kunai flew towards her. This time she was unable to duck.

It plunged deep into her shoulder.

“Sasuke. You are foolish.”

Her eyes widened. “No. There’s no way. Itachi you could never do something like this.”

“I wanted to test the limits of my own power. Now I see them for what they were. Weak, useless, nothing more than an obstacle for me to overcome.”

He flickered outside. Sasuke bolted after him.

She had to stop him. She had to ask him, why? His answer couldn’t be real.

She took out a kunai from her pack and ran straight ahead.

He took no notice of her, dodging her charge forward at him with ease and twisting her arm until her hand released the kunai.

“Stop fighting back. It’s useless Sasuke.”

“Itachi please, you wouldn’t kill mother and father, you wouldn’t kill the clan. Who did this?”

He sneered at her. “Foolish. I told you the truth. If you’re too weak to believe me, there’s nothing I can do about that.”

“Please, stop running. You could have killed me any number of times already but you haven’t. That must mean you have some feeling!” Sasuke was crying, begging for it to be true.

He stared at her and paused for a few seconds.

“Hm. Don’t be mistaken. I left you alive because I believe one day you will awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan. When that day arrives, you’ll be a worthy opponent for me to sharpen my skills even further. When I killed Shisui to obtain mine, I knew that I could be unstoppable, but I have to make sure.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened. _Those men from before, they were right about Itachi_. She felt her whole body go cold, the events of the evening starting to take hold of her.

 _“_ If you still don’t believe me, there’s a stone underneath the Naka shrine, beneath the seventh tatami mat from the right. Inscribed on it are the secrets of our clan and our power. Look there with your sharingan, take it to heart.”

He pointed his katana at her.

“If you insist on continuing to chase after me, know that you will never catch up to my level unless you let your hate fuel you.”

He turned his back on her and walked away.

She raced closer to him. “Wait!” She felt anger take over her and a red tinge covered her sight. She took three shuriken out of her pack and threw them forward towards _~~her brother~~_ that man. One of them managed to barely nick the fabric of his headband, causing it to fall to the ground.

He turned back to face her and Sasuke was hit with an invisible force that knocked her to her knees.

She could’ve sworn she saw tears streaming down his face before her world turned red and she was caught in a hellish loop watching her clansmen get murdered over, and over, and over again.

She woke up a few days later, not that she was able to keep track of that in her state.

A sudden intense bout of nausea struck her upon waking.

She tried to sit up but her body was too weak. She threw up all over herself in the small white bed she was occupying.

She felt a pinch in her arm and saw a needle taped in place leading up to a clear plastic bag filled with a clear liquid.

She heard a rustling and turned to see the curtain separating the room be pushed back by a woman in a white nurse’s uniform. _I must be in a hospital?_ She thought.

She saw the tremble in the woman’s lip and the wet glean hiding in her eyes.

“Akari! Bring in a new gown please.”

The nurse turned back to Sasuke. “My name is Kokoro. Do you know where you are?”

Sasuke looked around again. _Is she serious?_ “I’m in a hospital, right?” she deadpanned back at her.

Kokoro was flustered. “Good. Yes, you’re in a hospital.”

She stuttered and fumbled her words, “Ah, well do you. Oh boy. Uh. What do you….” She ran a hand across her forehead.

From behind the curtain another nurse arrived, carrying a small, clean gown with her. Kokoro looked overjoyed. “Akari, wonderful. Let’s get Sasuke cleaned up.”

Sasuke felt her arms get lifted up. They were surprisingly stiff. “How long have I been in here?” she asked her nurses.

Akari answered quietly, “You’ve been here eight nights now.”

That long?

“Is my mother here?” Sasuke was scared, what was going on with her? “What happened to me?”

Neither woman said anything. Sasuke felt tears start to spill down her face. “Where’s my father? Where’s my brother? My family _wouldn’t_ leave me here alone. I’m sorry I have to go find them. I don’t like being here.” She tried to move up and felt her limbs struggle to follow her will. It was like moving concrete.

She felt her heart start to beat faster and faster. “No. no. no. no. no. no. no.”

An image flashed in her mind. It was her dead mother, slumped unceremoniously over top her father.

She grabbed her chest and cried out, howling like a mad woman. “No god why!”

The two nurses looked scared. One of them grabbed a needle and inserted something into the plastic bag. She saw the edges of her vision blur and fell back asleep.

* * *

The next time she woke up, she knew she was alone.

There wouldn’t be any more nights cooking in tandem with her mother, no more trips to the Senbei shop with her father, and no more careless nights talking with her brother.

The following days were a haze. Sasuke was sure that she was trapped in some kind of purgatory, some kind of world in between the living and the dead.

At one point Lord Third came to talk with her. He told her about an apartment that he was renting in her name, how she would be taken care of until she reached adulthood.

How they were burning the Uchiha compound to the ground.

She only vaguely remembered leaving the hospital and plodding to hew new house.

It was small. The walls were white and lifeless.

Apparently, someone had gathered her stuff from her room while she was in the hospital and dropped it off in bags for her. A note on top of the bags mentioned that if she wanted to go back for more things, an ANBU member would accompany her. The implication was clear: don’t go back alone.

She heard a knock on the door.

“Hello?” she opened it and saw a familiar face.

“Iruka sensei? What are you doing here?” She knew what he was doing here, she dreaded knowing that more people would come after him.

“Sasuke I want to tell you how sorry I am that this-“ She slammed the door in his face. She didn’t want to hear what he had to say. She didn’t want to hear what anyone had to say about what happened.

There was more knocking on the door. She could hear Iruka sensei saying something behind the door. She blocked her ears and curled up on the floor, staying there until he went away.

She sat against the wall. Her apartment was empty save for some drapes covering the large sliding glass doors leading out to her balcony. She tried to remember what the Hokage had said when he visited her in the hospital. She racked her brain.

 _The apartment is paid for, my parents had some savings that will be passed on to me, I’ll get a monthly stipend, and_ oh.

She remembered. The compound was getting burned to the ground. Immediately after, she remembered Itachi’s words about the stone in the Naka shrine.

She had to go see what was written there, and she had to go alone. This was between her and Itachi.

She listened for the sounds of Iruka or another well-wisher or even an ANBU guard outside her door. Not hearing anything, she was certain that she alone now.

She resolved to go back, under the cover of darkness to read what was inscribed on the stone.

* * *

She raced through the shadows all the way back to the Uchiha compound. She braced herself before turning the last corner and faced the taped up entrance. Not sensing anyone around, she ducked through the tape and ran to Naka shrine, lifted up the seventh tatami mat from the right and saw a flight of stairs leading into a dark tunnel.

There were torches lining the walls of the hallway. She picked one up and using the fireball jutsu she lit one.

When she reached the end she saw a stone. When she first activated her sharingan before throwing her shuriken at Itachi, it had happened instinctively. Now that she had to intentionally activate it, she was apprehensive. She breathed deeply and squinted her eyes.

Nothing happened.

She tried again, with similar results.

Starting to get frustrated, Sasuke focused the chakra in her eyes. Red tinged her sight and she looked back at the stone.

She spent the next several hours looking and reading.

So, in order to reach Itachi’s level she would have to witness the death of the people closest to her? Didn’t that already happen to her, or did witnessing the deaths via genjutsu not count?

She grimaced. Itachi had already killed everyone close to her, there was no way she would be able to awaken her Mangekyo sharingan now, not unless she made a new bond with someone and lost them too. The thought of that made her enraged. No, she wouldn’t be able to do that.

Sasuke took one last look at the stone then left.

* * *

The following day, her first monthly stipend was dropped off by Lord Third himself.

“How are you doing Sasuke? Are you settling in nicely?” He glanced around at the still empty apartment.

Sasuke remained silent.

“I’d like to see your apartment furnished next time I’m over. You have to take care of yourself. Your mother would have wanted that.” He said gently.

Sasuke pushed her palms into her eyes. “Okay.” She whispered.

When he left, Sasuke thought about what he said.

Sighing deeply, she used the transformation technique and turned herself into an unassuming adult woman with short brown hair. She took her money and went around the village, buying furniture to ship to her apartment.

When her chakra reserves ran low, she slipped into the alleyway and let her transformation release.

Carefully she made her way back, making sure no one would see her.

She spent the next day putting everything together.

It was plain, not filled with warmth like her mother would have made it. _Oh well_ she thought, _at least it’s not white and empty._

If nothing else, Lord Third would have no reason to make a comment about her living situation next time he dropped off her stipend.

* * *

Sasuke found that her days were passing agonizingly slow. She had a few visitors come by and knock at her door, but unless it was the Hokage, she ignored them until they gave up and walked away.

She sat out on her balcony and watched the people moving on the streets below. During the day she didn’t do much else but sit and watch the world go by.

At night she would lay awake in her bed, sleep was something that would always evade her.

On one sleepless night, she wandered into the bathroom.

She examined her face in the mirror. It was her mothers face staring back at her, although a much younger version of her. She searched for a hint of her father, trying to find some similarity. Her nose was like his, maybe.

She squeezed her eyes shut, focusing the chakra to her eyes. She took a deep breath in and slowly breathed out opening her eyes, sharingan blazing. Itachi stared back at her. Her hands gripped the porcelain of the sink. She didn’t break eye contact.

In a flash she shattered the image in front of her. She pulled her bloody hand back, lacerated by the shards. She brought both hands up to her mouth and let out a guttural unearthly scream.

Sasuke sunk to the ground and curled into the fetal position.

She wanted to die.

Sasuke laid on the bathroom floor until the sun started to peak through the glass of the sliding glass door in her living room. A sliver of light shone into the bathroom.

Sasuke slowly moved to sit up. She examined her hand. The bleeding had stopped and was now covered in flaky brown bits.

She washed it away in the sink and moved to the kitchen to grab a garbage bag.

She picked up the shards of the mirror and tossed them away. The smaller pieces were swept up and similarly tossed into the bag.

How was she supposed to fix the broken mirror?

If she had asked, any adult would have told her that her apartment had a maintenance man who could easily replace it.

Given the circumstances, no one would blame her for acting out and destroying a relatively inexpensive furnishing.

Sasuke, however, being 8 years old and utterly alone, didn’t ask anyone what she should do.

So she covered the mirror with a towel and left it there.

She would eventually buy a replacement a few months later when her kunoichi skills sensei would pull her aside and tactfully tell Sasuke that she was concerned about the marked decline in her personal hygiene. Particularly where the maintenance of her physical appearance was concerned.

Sasuke would briefly feel a stinging pang of shame and apologize to her sensei.

She would go on to be mortified when she bought that mirror replacement and looked at her reflection for the first time in months.

She would cry and cry, staring at her hair with matted clumps at the back of her head and the skeletal gaunt angles of her face.

As it was, that morning Sasuke chose to cover up the mirror and deal with it later.

* * *

Sasuke was granted a two week break from her classes in order to get settled and grieve.

She was nearing the end of this break and was started to feel dread develop in the pit of her stomach.

After the incident with the mirror, Sasuke felt the need to cover up the remaining reflective surfaces in her new little apartment.

She no longer tried activating her sharingan. She didn’t think about the message written on the stone either.

Deep down inside, she wanted to live. Every moment spent alone in that quiet (lonely) apartment she felt herself getting pulled closer and closer to death.

She knew she had to make a plan. She wouldn’t die until Itachi was killed.

The first part of her plan involved getting back among the rest of the living world so she could try and feel somewhat normal.

The second part of her plan was long term. It involved her becoming a strong kunoichi capable of killing ~~her brother~~ _that man._

Getting back to her academy classes would help with both parts.

So, before her two week break was over, Sasuke returned to class, unable to bear being alone.

Soon she found that she could not bear being around others.

Most of the children were smart enough to leave her alone, sensing that the hushed tones in which their parents talked about the incident meant they should try and keep it hidden. The sensei were not as willing, or possibly able, to hide their emotions. Sasuke frequently would catch their absolutely gutted expressions staring at her throughout the day.

Ino (she could only assume) left a white lily in her locker the day after returning to class. Sakura tentatively approached her at lunch only to be glared away, frightened by the inhuman look in her eyes.

The next day, Sakura tried once again to insert herself into Sasuke’s life. She sat herself down next to her at the start of morning classes, not that Sasuke acknowledged her.

Ino had privately told her to give her space, but Sakura couldn’t agree to that. Sakura reached out to grab her friend’s hand and tried to find something comforting to say.

Sasuke flinched and pulled back. Unable to stop herself, she let out a whimper.

Sakura’s eyes softened and welled with tears.

Sasuke felt anger swell inside her. _Damn it_ she couldn’t be weak like that. She pushed Sakura back. Hard.

Sasuke gave her the iciest glare she could manage.

“Don’t touch me.” Her voice croaked out. They were the first words she spoke since coming back.

That evening, Sasuke was wandering around the village. She found that she had a hard time sitting home alone all the time and so would spend her evenings either wandering until night or heading to the training grounds. On this day, she was wandering past one of the small lakes that were in the village.

She looked down towards the water, seeing a familiar puff of yellow hair. _It’s that loud, annoying boy from class…Naruto_.

As if hearing her thoughts, he turned back to face her.

Sasuke froze. She saw an all too familiar unfeeling haze in his eyes. The same haze she often sees reflected back at her in the morning after a painfully restless night.

Sasuke felt like puking. They locked eyes and a glint of something(sympathy, understanding, an olive branch of some sort?) Sasuke couldn’t quite understand was shimmering in them.

Her nausea turned to hatred. _Who was he to try and offer anything to her_? She wanted to march down there and scream at him, to throw him off the dock and let him know he did NOT understand, and it was useless acting like he did. Instead, she turned on her icey glare and he startled, turning his head back towards the setting sun over the lake.

Sasuke put her hands back into her pockets and turned to walk home. She felt her core shaking in anger. _Another person trying to offer me sympathy_ she thought coldly to herself. _He knows nothing about me, he’s just a loser._

* * *

At some point as the years passed, as it seems to inevitably happen, the cool unattached attitude became more popular to the students and replaced the open joyful attitude of small children.

Sasuke found herself the center of attention much to her chagrin.

With ease she soared to the top of the class. Her standoffish attitude and cold demeanor just made Sakura and Ino want to be her friends even more.

As she grew older, she started to grow into her features. The boys, and if she wasn’t mistaken some girls, in class couldn’t look away. Her high-necked shirts and long black pants did nothing to sway attention away.

She didn’t appreciate either genders attention, it would only get in the way of her goals.

After classes she would go to the training grounds, training until she nearly collapsed.

She kept her routine up, settling into a rhythm with life. One day, something unexpected happened. As Sasuke was leaving the training grounds she heard a soft myewl.

At first she thought it was in her head, but the she heard it a second time. “Hello?” she called out. She didn’t sense anyone’s chakra.

She followed the noise into the trees, stopping in front of a root growing up out of the ground.

“Hello there. What’s your name kitty?” A small scraggly black and white kitten was curled up mewing by the tree.

Sasuke glanced around. Where was the kitten’s mother? Where were the other kittens from the litter? This one couldn’t be more than a few weeks old.

As hard as she might, Sasuke couldn’t help but feel sorry for this kitten. _Stupid_ she thought, _just let it die out here, it’s better off than being alone._

Still, she scooped the kitten up and carried it back to her apartment.

That night she made a big home cooked meal for her and her new friend, cutting up chunks of tuna.

“I can’t keep you around forever. I’m busy with training and my classes. You can hang around for a little bit though.”

The kitten didn’t respond, choosing instead to gnaw on the raw chunks of fish.

Sasuke left in the morning to continue her daily routine but after class, instead of training, she went home.

The kitten was curled up purring on her couch.

“Did you miss me?” Her furry companion didn’t bother looking up.

Sasuke sat and did her homework, pausing to get up and pet the kitten periodically. The rest of week she deterred from her routine, choosing to prioritize the kitten. By the time the weekend came around, Sasuke knew she had to do something with him.

She couldn’t slack on her training any longer.

She tapped her finger on the desk and looked over at the sleeping kitten.

“Well, I did tell you that you can’t stay around forever. I think I know a place you can go though.”

It had been years since Sasuke went to Sora-ku. The thought of going now put a nostalgic ache in her heart but she resolved to get this kitten out of her hair.

She swaddled the kitten like a baby and started on her way.

She ran through the gates, letting the front guards know that she would be back before the day was over.

She moved chakra into her feet and pushed forward, following the once familiar road to Sora-ku. Internally she noted that it only took 45 minutes to get there this time. She pushed the thought away.

She arrived at the abandoned city and waltzed up to the rusty door with a dull Uchiha fan noted next to it.

She opened the door, squeaking on its hinges. She followed the hallways through the maze, somewhat surprised she could still remember the pathway years later.

When she arrived at the ornate door, she knocked twice loud and clear.

An old woman opened the door and her eyes widened at seeing Sasuke.

“Granny cat, would you take this kitten in? I don’t have the space or time to take care of him.” Right to the point.

Granny cat looked her over, seeming to question something in her mind.

“Oh? I can. You seem rather fond of him though, are you sure you want to do that?” Granny cat asked.

“Yes, I have to focus on my training. I have… a goal of sorts. I can’t let myself get distracted.”

Granny cat looked sad.

“I’m quite sure I can guess at your goal.” She let out a sigh.

“Well, like I said. I can take him in but a kitten this young should have some sort of stability in his life. Too much bouncing around can be bad for his development and socialization. I’d like to ask you to come back here on the weekends and help care for him. If you don’t mind of course.”

Sasuke thought about it. She really needed to focus on her training but if Granny cat was asking _her_ directly for help, could she really turn her down?

“Okay. I can come over on the weekends, but I don’t have time to stay the whole day okay?” Sasuke told her.

“That’s fine. Would you like to meet some of our other cats as long as you’re here?” Granny cat asked.

“No thank you, I really should be leaving now.”

She left and confident that she was alone on the abandoned road, allowed the tiniest smile to grace her lips. She found that for the first time in quite a while, she was not living day by day. She was excited for the weekend to come. 

* * *

Graduation exams were one short week away. Sasuke felt electrified. She was getting closer to her goal.

She made sure to let Granny cat know that she wouldn’t be able to come by this upcoming weekend since she would, with luck, be graduated and meeting with her genin team. Granny cat understood and gave her an early congratulations.

On the day of exams, Sasuke excelled. She noted that most everyone from her class graduated as well.

Naruto, she noted, did not. She felt a tiny pang of sympathy for him, but she pushed it down and went home to celebrate with a tomato salad and onigiri.

The next day, Sasuke was one of the first to arrive. She found a seat and sat in it with her eyes closed, waiting for the others to filter in.

“Naruto? What are you doing here? You failed don’t you remember?” Shikamaru asked two rows behind Sasuke.

“Oh yeah? See this Shikamaru, this is a regulation headband. I’m a ninja to ya know. I passed a secret second exam from Iruka sensei last night.”

Secret second exam? _That doesn’t make sense_ Sasuke thought.

Sakura burst in through the door. Her eyes scanned the room like a hawk, seeing Sasuke she zoned in on her target. “Saaasuke!” she gave a yell and waved from across the room. She barreled forward pushing past Ino and Naruto, giving him such a hefty push that his hip slammed into the side of the tables.

Sasuke frowned.

“Sasuke! Isn’t is so exciting? We’re finally genin.” She squealed.

“Hn.” Sasuke turned away. Why was she so loud?

Sakura threw her arms around Sasuke and squealed in her ear. “I hope we get put on the same team!” Sasuke scowled. _Two squeals in a row, she’s annoying._

“You idiot, they never put two kunoichi on the same tea. Even if they did, I’m sure Sasuke and I would be put together not you forehead.” Ino came over and had draped her arm around Sakura.

“Ino pig why don’t you go mind your own business?” Sakura questioned, a tiny grin on her face.

“Hey Sakura wouldn’t it be cool if we were on a team?” Naruto popped up sheepishly.

“As if dead last, why are you even here? You failed so hard yesterday!”

He looked crestfallen.

Sakura noticed and became sheepish. “Well it’s true. Why are you here?”

“Some kind of secret second exam he said.” Kiba replied from his seat.

Naruto jumped up in the desk in front of Sasuke.

 _Oh great, why can’t people leave me alone?_ She thought.

Sasuke mustered her iciest glare, he remained unphased.

“Naruto! Stop glaring at Sasuke!” Sakura and Ino shouted.

“Listen here-“ he started but was promptly interrupted by a boy in front of him scooting out of his chair and gently bumping Naruto’s behind pushing him directly into…

“Ehhh?” A collective scream of outrage from the girls and boys in the room resounded into the hallway.

Naruto’s lips were pressed against Sasuke’s, much to their equal horror. Sasuke pulled back, shocked. Naruto look confused and when he processed what had happened his eyes widened. “Whoa, whoa, wait a sec-“ He was interrupted by a barrage of girls punching and yelling at him.

Iruka sensei entered the room a few moments later. “Congratulations once again. As of now, you’re all genin. Genin get grouped into three-man formations. Each squad is led by an elite jonin. I’ll announce the squads and your team numbers now.” He looked at Naruto and saw his face was covered with red marks. _Odd_ he thought.

He ran through the list. Eventually he called “Squad 7: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke.”

Sakura jumped up in her seat and turned to give a big peace sign to Ino. She sat back down. Naruto looked like he had just swallowed a bug and was about to be sick.

Sasuke showed no emotion at all.

“Why do I have to be in the same group as a jerk like Sasuke?” Naruto shouted out.

“Well Naruto, in order to balance the teams, the top student, Sasuke, was placed with the bottom of the class- that’s you Naruto.”  
Laughter filled the classroom and Naruto buried his head in his arms.

 _That’s kind of harsh._ Sasuke didn’t say anything just continued to stare straight ahead.

“Now that the teams have been called, you’ll get a quick lunch break. Then regroup here to meet with your jonin-sensei.”

With that they were dismissed.

“Hey Sasuke, wait up.”

She didn’t turn around or even stop, but she slowed her pace just a tiny bit. He ran and caught up.

“Listen,” he started, his face covered with a blush, “I wanted to apologize for kissing you. It was a total accident but that doesn’t mean it was okay! I’m really a gentleman I swear!” He grinned a big toothy grin at her.

“I don’t care about that loser. Just don’t slow me down.”

He scowled.

“You don’t have to be so mean all the time, I graduated too ya know, I’m a genin too just like you!”

“You heard Iruka sensei. We were put together to balance out, you were absolutely last in class and I was the top. We aren’t the same.”

She stormed off. _Dammit, how was she going to get stronger with Naruto and Sakura on her team?_ Her last hope was that her jonin sensei would at least be strong but knowing her luck he’d just be a big dope.

* * *

Across the village, Kakashi sneezed.

“Excuse you.” The Hokage said and sat himself down on a playground bench with Kakashi.

“Well, it’s certainly odd to be assigned a team with two Kunoichi. I assume that you had some type of reasoning behind your decision?” Kakashi inquired. He already was lost around kids and now he was supposed to deal with two young girls?

He flashbacked to Rin. _I had no idea what you were ever thinking. I couldn’t even see what you were going through until the very end._ He let out a hefty sigh.

The Hokage laughed. “I certainly hope you aren’t underestimating them. Sasuke was top of the class and Sakura was top among the kunoichi. With some guidance they will both flourish. As for the team dynamic, of course I have my reasoning.”

He watched the children playing for a second before continuing.

“Naruto had the nine tailed fox sealed inside him. Obviously, you with your sharingan need to keep a close eye on him. Sasuke is a young genius, with a troublesome upbringing. I think you can relate to that. If the day ever comes where she awakens her sharingan, you’ll need to be there to help her master it. The other kunoichi, Sakura, is admittedly average. However, I think her outgoing personality will be good for both Sasuke and Naruto and in time she will come into her own.”

It was nearing the end of lunch time. The students would be regrouping and meeting their sensei soon. Kakashi sighed. He still had to visit the memorial stone before meeting his genin.

“I trust your decision Lord Third, but there’s still no guarantee that I’ll pass any of them.”

He chuckled, “You might end up surprising yourself Kakashi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I plan on being nicer to Sakura. At the very least I'm not using her as romantic bait to goad two boys into a rivalry like the Hokage admitted he was doing in the anime. 
> 
> Also, if it wasn’t clear Sakura and Ino are just joking around. They aren’t rivals to the degree they were in the anime. They still push each other to be stronger, and they are both competitive, but they aren’t ruining their friendship to compete for the attention of a boy.


	5. Chapter 5

The allotted lunch hour was coming to an end. Sasuke was meandering back to the academy grounds when she saw a peculiar sight.

Sakura was sitting on a bench talking with a dark-haired girl in a navy-blue shirt and black tights. Honestly, it looked a lot like Sasuke. _Wait, that is me?!_

Sasuke jumped into the nearby tree and crossed the canopies until she was over the two figures. She hid her chakra and began to eavesdrop.

“I can’t believe we got stuck with that loser Naruto.” Sakura huffed.

The fake Sasuke chuckled, “Ah, do you really think he’s that bad?” she sounded a little bit hurt.

“Of course! He’s so annoying, don’t you agree? He’s always goofing off in class, he’s going to drag us down as genin. He won’t be able to understand anything our jonin sensei says _and_ sensei will have to spend all his time on him and ignore us! It’s gonna suck. Plus he always tries to find ways to pick on me and annoy me.” She sighed. Sakura turned to face her companion and started up again earnestly.

“What I really want is for you to be my friend again. I know things fell apart between us but I’d really like for you to acknowledge me.”

Sasuke felt something twist in her stomach. Maybe she was being too hard on Sakura, it’s not like she needed to be her best friend but as teammates Sasuke supposed she could at least give her more than the usual one word replies she was accustomed to.

The two girls leaned in close when the fake Sasuke’s stomach rumbled and she stuttered unintelligibly before running off.

Sasuke followed her fake into the school building and saw a puff of smoke surround ‘her’ revealing the perpetrator to be… Naruto?

She went to confront him before seeing him race to the boy’s bathroom.

_Ah. It can wait. I suppose I should go clear things up with Sakura and let her know what a creep Naruto was being._

Sasuke went back outside, seeing Sakura in the same place as earlier.

“Sasuke you’re back! What’s wrong, are you sick?” She asked with concern in her eyes.

“Oh, no, I’m fine I actually want to talk to you about something.” It was going to take a lot of effort to reach out and be nice to this obscenely bubbly girl.

Sakura continued to babble on, “I keep thinking about that Naruto. Ugh, he just picks fights all the time. You know what his issue is, it’s because he wasn’t raised right. That’s what my parents say. He never had a mother or father to teach him right from wrong. He just does whatever pops into his head. If you don’t have parents to guide you or tell you how would you know? He’s always acting so selfish and bratty.”

Sasuke snapped, maybe she didn’t need to reconsider her attitude towards Sakura.

“You have no idea what it’s like not having parents around, what isolation does to someone.” She clenched her fists, “You annoy me so much, you’re way worse than Naruto.”

She stormed off, leaving Sakura there with her mouth hanging open and stomped back to their classroom.

She encountered Naruto leaving the bathroom holding his stomach.

They locked eyes.

“Hey loser, impersonate me again and you’re dead.” She walked off. Naruto started to yell something back but a loud gurgle of his stomach interrupted and he raced back to the toilet.

* * *

The jonin-sensei came and called out the names of their squads.

As Ino left with her team she made sure to give a wave and a wink to Sakura before bouncing off.

Eventually, it was just Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura left.

“This is so boring! What kind of loser sensei comes so late?” Naruto slumped down in his seat.

Sakura whined in agreement. She looked over at Sasuke, who was completely ignoring them both. _What did I do to her?_ Sakura sighed.

Naruto gave a mischievous smile. “Hey, let’s pull a prank on him.”

“No way!” Both Sakura and Sasuke shouted at him.

The two girls looked at each other and then away.

“Ugh come on, he deserves it for being so late. I’m doing it.”

Naruto jumped out of his seat and grabbed an eraser from the chalk board. He propped the door open and squished it into place.

They heard footsteps coming down the hall.

“He’s coming!” Naruto practically squealed.

“There’s no way a jonin would fall for something like that!” Sakura yelled at him.

“Shhhh!”

A tuft of silver hair appeared in the doorway and the eraser seemed to fall in slow motion, hitting him on the head.

“Ah.” Their jonin sensei lazily looked around the room, assessing the three new genin he was being tasked with.

_The two girls are obviously already fed up with Naruto’s antics, but they don’t seem to be using that as a way to bond with each other. All three of them seem pretty selfish and disconnected._

“Hahaha I can’t believe you fell for that!” Naruto was pointing and holding his stomach, trying (and failing) to contain his laughter.

Sasuke assessed the man in the doorway. The bottom half of his face was covered in a mask and his left eye was covered by his slanted headband. His chakra was unreadable.

“My first impression is, I hate you guys. Meet me on the roof in five minutes.” With that the silver haired man poofed away, leaving his students behind.

There was silence in the room for a few tense moments.

“Naruto you idiot! He hates us!” Sakura yelled at him, threatening to hit him.

“I can’t believe he fell for something like that, he’s supposed to be an elite shinobi. What am I going to do?” Sasuke groaned and dropped her head into her hands. This was turning into a nightmare.

“Hey it’s not my fault! Sasuke’s right- he’s supposed to be an elite shinobi he should easily be able to dodge something like that.” Naruto rushed to defend himself. Naruto and Sakura continued to squabble with each other.

Sasuke felt like she was just sucker punched. _That man_ was still so far out of her reach and her hope of getting stronger after becoming a genin was seeming more and more unlikely. The obstacles were piling up in front of her. It was agonizing.

She stood up and slapped her hands down on the desk. Naruto and Sakura stopped their bickering and turned to watch her.

“We shouldn’t waste time down here; we’re supposed to meet him on the roof.” Sasuke crossed her arms and sauntered out of the room and up the stairs leading to the roof.

Naruto and Sakura followed behind her.

“You’re so uptight Sasuke.” Naruto whined. “He’s pretty lame but once we start going on missions that won’t even matter, we can prove ourselves and won’t need him anymore.”

“As inspirational as ever Naruto. I’m less worried about our sensei as I am you, loser.” Sasuke retorted with a roll of her eyes. She opened the door leading out to the roof and saw their sensei perched off to the corner.

“Ah good, you all made it.” He motioned them over to him and they sat in front of him.

“Now that we’re all here, why don’t you introduce yourselves.”

Sakura raised her hand and shouted, “What you want us to say?”

“Hmm. Likes, dislikes, hobbies, goals for the future, things like that.”

Naruto thought about that for a second, “Why don’t you start then, show us how to do it?”

“Alright, I’m Hatake Kakashi. The things I like and the things I hate, I don’t feel like telling you guys. My dreams for the future, well I’ve never really thought about it. As for hobbies, I have lots of them.” His one visible eye crinkled up like he was smiling.

Sakura turned to her teammates and was pleased to notice they were equally unamused by their sensei’s introduction.

“That’s great, we learned nothing except his name.” Sasuke couldn’t help but nod in agreement with Sakura.

“Alright! I’m next. My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like instant ramen, ramen Iruka sensei treats me to at Ichiraku’s and I dislike waiting the three minutes after you pour the hot water into cup ramen. My hobbies are trying all different kinds of ramen and my dream is to become the Hokage so that everyone in the village will have to acknowledge me!”

Sasuke was surprised, and not to mention a little bit disheartened. _That poor kid, there’s no way someone like him could be the Hokage._

Sakura went next.

“My name is Haruno Sakura, I like studying and making friends, my dream is to become a great kunoichi, worthy of my peers respect and I hate Naruto!” She looked over at Sasuke and blushed.

“Why me?!” Naruto shouted back.

 _At least they both have worthwhile goals. Maybe they aren’t entirely hopeless._ Sasuke sighed.

She was up last. She felt all three pairs of eyes on her. _Great, just how honest should I be with these people?_

“My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don’t like many things.” She paused. “Although I like taking care of the cats in Sora-ku with Granny cat.” She could sense the surprise from her teammates. _Maybe I’m being too honest_.

“I hate lots of things and my dream for the future, is… to kill a certain someone.” She felt Naruto shudder next to her. Sakura looked over at her inquisitively and a bit awestruck.

“Great you’re each unique and have your own goals. Our first mission starts tomorrow, it will be a survival test.” Despite the mask covering his face Sasuke was sure he was smirking.

“Wait, why is a survival test our first mission? We did stuff like that all the time at the academy.” Sakura stated.

“I can assure you this survival test is different from your academy practice survival tests.” There was a mischievous glint in Kakashi’s exposed eye.

“What kind of survival test is it then?” Naruto asked, bordering on being serious for once.

“Of the 27 graduates, only 9 will continue on as genin. The others will be sent back to the academy to try again. The chance that you fail is at least 66%.” Kakashi chuckled darkly.

“That’s crazy! We worked hard to get here. There’s no way I’m gonna fail!” Naruto grabbed at his hair in frustration.

Sasuke agreed, there was no way she was going to fail.

“Well you certainly seem determined. We’ll meet at training ground 3 at 6 a.m.” Kakashi stood up and turned to walk away before stopping and turning back. “Oh, a word of advice, don’t eat breakfast or you’ll just throw it up. See ya!” Their sensei poofed away leaving the three stunned genin to process what he had said.

* * *

Sasuke arrived about 15 minutes early the next morning. She took this time to get mentally prepared. She would _not_ fail here and be sent back. She clenched her fists.

Her stomach rumbled loudly, a feeling of nausea was working its way up. _I’m really not used to skipping breakfast, hopefully we get started soon._

“Hey! Sasuke!” She turned her head and saw an orange blob in the distance, steadily moving towards her.

He reached her in a few quick bounds. “So, what do you think this survival test will be like? I think it’s gonna be really tough ya know? Although I bet I’ll breeze right through it.” Naruto hooked his thumbs in his pockets and rocked back and forth cockily.

“If you need help, don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll make sure we all get through it no problem.”

“Hn.” _That’s quite unlikely._

“You aren’t very talkative, are you?” He cocked his head at her

“We should be focused on getting ready not talking. The stakes are too high to lose focus.”

That seemed to sober him up some because for the next 15 minutes he was quiet.

Sakura strolled up to them, the heavy bags apparent under her eyes. “Good morning Sasuke. Naruto.” She nodded at them. “Hopefully Kakashi sensei isn’t late today.”

As it was, Kakashi was more than three hours late.

“Yo.” He appeared suddenly behind the trio, who had been resting on the ground.

“Where have you been? You’re three hours late!” Naruto and Sakura shouted at him.

“Ahh, I got caught on the road of life.”

“That’s no excuse!” Naruto shouted.

Sasuke’s hunger was starting to get to her. She was wondering if she should have had at least a bland rice cake or crackers before heading here. The bickering and yelling of her teammates and sensei were grating on her nerves.

“Well, let’s get started.”

Kakashi rummaged around in a pouch strapped to his thigh. He pulled out two bells that made a jingling sound as they moved around.

“These.” He shook the bells for emphasis, “are your ticket to becoming genin.”

Sasuke focused on the two bells before her. _Now it’s time to get serious._

“You will have three hours to try and take these bells from me. If you get one, you become a genin.”

Sakura spoke up tentatively, “But sensei, there are only two bells and three of us. Do we automatically win once two of us capture the bells?”

“There are two bells because only two of you will advance on to become genin, one of you will get sent back to the academy.”

“That’s not fair!” Naruto shouted. “So there’s no way we all get to advance?”

“The life of a shinobi is not fair, you have to get used to it or get our this career.” Kakashi told them sternly.

Sasuke scowled. There was no way the three of them individually would be able to compete against him but with the current circumstances it would be hard to convince the other two to join forces.

Kakashi grabbed a timer and wound it up to mark three hours. Then he put it down on a tree stump.

“When the timer rings, you will either leave here as a full-fledged shinobi or be sent back as a student. The worst performance of the day gets tied to the log and watches while the others eat lunch. Any questions?”

Kakashi looked at their faces, noting the passing worry, determination, and anger they all displayed.

“None? Okay, I’ll give you one piece of friendly advice as your senior-fight me like you intend to kill me or you won’t stand a chance.”

“As if I’m going to lose here!” Naruto raced forward pulling a kunai out of his pack and raced towards Kakashi aiming his kunai at the man’s neck.

Faster than Sasuke could see happen, Naruto’s arm was twisted back, and his kunai was ripped out of his hand. Kakashi took it and pointed it at the boy’s neck.

“I didn’t say go yet, but you girls should note his enthusiasm. Match it or fail.”

He threw Naruto on the ground.

“Go!”

Sasuke and Sakura flew back. Sasuke took refuge in a tree and Sakura found a hiding spot underneath some bushes.

Sasuke looked forward intently. _Naruto, why are you still standing there? Get back!_

Naruto couldn’t hear her thoughts, of course, not that he would have changed his actions if he had.

He squared his shoulders and grabbed a fistful of shuriken out of his pack.

Kakashi rummaged around his pack and brought out an orange book. All three students paused, unsure of what he would do with it.

Kakashi opened up the book and fixed his eye to the page. After a few seconds, he turned to the next page.

“Are you reading?” Naruto yelled, enraged.

“That pisses me off! Don’t take me lightly!” With that Naruto formed an unfamiliar hand sign and three more Naruto’s appeared.

 _Clones?_ Sasuke thought. _Those won’t be useful at all in this situation, was he paying any attention to strategy formulation classes?_

To her surprise, these clones moved differently than the typical clone. They had weight to them, and even though they were _very_ swiftly taken out by Kakashi, they moved and formulated actions based on their surroundings. Sasuke eyed her opponent’s movements, her eyes widened in shock when she saw him form the hand sign for a firestyle jutsu. _He could kill Naruto with that!_

To her right she her Sakura’s voice call out, “Naruto get away he could destroy you with that!”

To both girl’s surprise, he simply stabbed Naruto in the butt, thrusting him away.

_Okay, clearly taijutsu doesn’t work against him. Even with my level of skill, I don’t come close to a jonin’s level of strength. So what do I do?_

She resolved to watch their sparring continue and attempted to find some weakness of Kakashi’s. She was coming to dead end after dead end. He commanded use of strategy, substitution techniques, and could clearly use ninjutsu.

Sasuke was starting to form a hint of a plan in her mind but needed to test something out. She sensed Kakashi drop his guard while talking to a tied-up Naruto and attacked.

Her shuriken flew straight towards him and stuck. _Could it really have been that easy?_

Her target poofed and turned into a log. _Evidently not._

However, she had just revealed her location. _Shit._

She took off running. In the distance, she heard Sakura scream.

Kakashi’s voice rang out from behind her. “A simple illusion, one that she should have learned to see through in class.”

Her pulse raced.

_A genjutstu?_

“I’m not an easy target. I won’t go down like Naruto and Sakura.”

“Tough talk. You should save it for after you get a bell.”

Sasuke turned to face him. She already knew she would have to step her game up; he took the others out with ease.

She threw shuriken at him, forcing him up into the air.

“Normal attacks don’t work on me, haven’t you figured that out yet.”

Her real target was behind him. She cut through a rope and a barrage of weapons came flying towards him pushing him in one direction. Sasuke made sure to be there to meet him with a kick to the face, which was blocked with ease, followed by a punch and another kick- both blocked.

With his hands occupied elsewhere, Sasuke reached out her hand towards the bells. _Yes, I can do this!_

She felt her finger curve around one of the bells before receiving a swift punch to the stomach, forcing her backwards.

Her nausea from the morning was coming back.

Kakashi narrowed his eye. _She’s fierce. I actually have to put make-out paradise away. What a shame._

“You are different from the other two, I’ll grant you that. It still will not be enough to get a bell.”

Sasuke started forming the hand signs for the fireball jutsu, focusing on syncing up her breathing and releasing it towards her sensei. She was sure she saw shock on his face.

Once the smoke faded, he was nowhere in sight.

She felt the earth rumble beneath her before a hand came up and pulled her down into the ground, leaving only her head exposed.

“This is an earthstyle ninjutsu. Typically weak against firestyle but it’s all about strategy in the world of shinobi. You have talent, and you are different, but different isn’t always better. It just makes it easier to hammer you down.”

He took off like a flash.

Sasuke felt her cheeks blush. _Damn it. I thought I could get him by setting up a trap but there’s just no way. He’s too strong._

She saw Sakura run past her and do a quick double take at her head poking out of the ground.

“Ehh? Sasuke?” Sakura looked around quickly and pushed her hands together. “Release!”

When the scene before her didn’t change, Sakura screeched. “Oh Sasuke what happened? Are you okay? Let me get you out!” She ran forward and began clawing at the ground around Sasuke. She was able to get one arm free and from there Sasuke pushed the rest of her body out.

“Ugh.” Sasuke lay panting on the ground. “Sakura, there’s no way we can dream of taking this guy out on our own.

“Yeah, he caught me in a pretty bad genjutsu earlier. I was **top** of the class in genjutsu and genjutsu resistance for crying out loud! We are so outclassed.” She sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest.

“I don’t want to give up but it’s almost lunch time. Maybe we should just give up and try again next year.” Sakura sighed and looked on the verge of tears.

Sasuke narrowed her eyes and glared at Sakura. “That’s not an option for me. I’m the only one who can destroy that person. If I let myself get stopped here, at this level, there’s no hope for me.”

Sakura looked down. “Sasuke, that person.. you mentioned him earlier too. Is it Itach-“Sasuke scowled and pushed past her. _Sakura, you’re the same as ever. You just can’t leave it alone._

Both girls heard the timer ring out in the distance. “Ugh! I wasted too much time here.” She sullenly walked back to their meeting place with Sakura trailing behind her.

Naruto was tied to a training post. Two bento boxes were neatly placed on the ground before him. Sasuke sat on the left on him and Sakura to his right.

“I have to say, I was surprised by what I saw today. I don’t think I’ll send any of you back to the academy!” Kakashi crinkled his eye, smiling down at his students.

All three students felt a wave of relief go through them. Sakura jumped up and Naruto started whooping with joy.

“Oh, that doesn’t mean you passed. It means I’m recommending you all get dropped from the program. You’re selfish, uncoordinated, and in three hours never once attempted to work together to take an obviously more advanced target down.”

“That’s not fair, you pitted us against each other from the start sensei! There were only two bells for three of us, one of us was doomed to fail from the beginning.” Sakura pointed at Kakashi and yelled accusingly.

  
“That’s right, I pitted you against each other but as genin, you should already understand that the squad comes first, sometimes to the detriment of your individual aspirations. Without a doubt, you will encounter missions where the stakes are higher than this. In that instance, would you prioritize yourself over your comrades? If that’s the case, none of you deserve to become shinobi.” He walked over to a black stone statue.

“The names here are all heroes of our village.” He paused and looked at the stone.

“That’s it! I want my name to be there one day!” Naruto clicked his heels together and grinned.

“They’re a special kind of hero.” Kakashi’s voice was low.

“Ooh, what kind of hero? That’s even cooler!”

“They were all K.I.A.” His voice was a low controlled whisper now.

Sasuke felt the hairs on her neck stand up. _K.I.A huh? That’s the reality of this job._

“K.I.A? That sounds really cool.” Naruto, oblivious as ever to the social cues around him, yelled out giddily.

“Naruto, it means killed in action, they’re all dead.” Sakura gently revealed to him.

His face fell. “Oh.”

“This is a memorial stone, the names of my closest friends are on here.” Kakashi put one hand out and caressed one of its edges.

Sasuke felt a pang of sympathy for the man.

He pulled his hand back. “Alright, I’ll give you all one last chance. The stakes will be higher this time around. Eat lunch and build your strength back up, but Naruto doesn’t get any. It’s his punishment for blindly attacking and performing so poorly. If either of you try to feed him, you’ll be disqualified too. Understand?”

Naruto grimaced down at the ground before whipping his head up and shouting, “That’s no big deal! I can go weeks without eating! This is nothing!”

Kakashi smiled at the genin. “Good luck.” With that he poofed away.

Sasuke and Sakura opened up the bento boxes left by their sensei.

“We have to make a plan.” Sasuke stated.

“Even if we can’t all make it, we have to try.” Sakura nodded along.

“Well what should we do?” Naruto asked, still tied to his post.

“I’m working on that.” Sasuke heard Naruto’s stomach rumble. She looked around and felt for their sensei’s chakra.

“First, we all have to be at the top of our game.” She picked up a clump of rice and stood up, putting the food to Naruto’s lips. “Eat this. You’ll need your strength if we hope to win.”

“Sasuke! You heard sensei, if you do that you’ll fail!” Sakura exclaimed.

Sasuke scowled at her teammates. “I know. But there’s no other way around it. I’m thinking of a plan, and Naruto’s weird clones are a vital part of that.”

Sakura looked down at her food before picking up a pickled pepper and bringing it to Naruto’s mouth. “I suppose you’re right. Let’s give it everything we have!”

The girls took turns feeding Naruto, careful not to alert their sensei. Sasuke was bringing another pile of food up to Naruto’s mouth when a gust of wind pushed her back.

“You three! You broke the rules, I hope you’re ready for the consequence.” He formed an unknown hand sign and an ominous dark cloud blocked out the sun.

“You said that there were three of us and that’s why my teammates came to help me! We can’t do this alone.” Naruto defiantly stared at Kakashi.

“Yeah!” Sakura shouted.

“Hn.” Sasuke moved into a defensive position, chakra crackling in the air.

“Is that so? Well then.” He eyed them, looking for a hint of something Sasuke couldn’t be sure of, “You pass.” He grinned at them and gave a thumbs up.

“Huh?” Naruto and Sakura gasped out.

_What?_

“You pass. You defied me in order to help your teammate. That bond between your team is immeasurably important in the field. You’d do well to remember this lesson.”

The three of them looked at each other. Sakura jumped up, “yes!”

Naruto jumped around too, as well as he could still tied to the post.

Sasuke just looked shocked. Somewhere in the back of her mind she heard her mother’s voice, talking about the importance of bonds. She couldn’t quite grasp onto it and so shook her head.

“I’ll let Lord Third know that you passed and get us assigned a mission. Meet me here tomorrow and we will get started.” With that he gave a wave and walked back towards the road.

Sasuke slumped down and laid on the ground.

 _This is it; it’s really happening._ She gazed up at the clouds.

_I’m coming for you._

* * *

Sasuke dropped her bags at her door and went to shower. She was letting the grime of the day wash away when she heard a knock at her door. She stepped out, wrapped herself in a robe and checked out the peep hole.

Questioningly she opened the door. “Hey?”

Ino and Sakura squealed back at her. “We all passed! We’re all genin! Let’s go celebrate!”

Ino was dressed in a flowing purple sun dress with her hair done in a braid. Sakura was dressed in a pink jumper with her hair down.

Sasuke stared back at them. She battled internally. _It’s not like I want to be their friends, but Kakashi just hammered home how important it is to bond with your teammates. Ino isn’t a teammate but Sakura would be disappointed if I don’t come out, but I really don’t want to spend time with them._

She was deliberating, Ino and Sakura stood there in silence. “Uh hello? Did you want to go celebrate?”

Sasuke looked up, _oh. I got lost in my thoughts._

“Uh,” _Just go. What’s the harm?_ A voice that sounded like her mother spoke to her.

Sasuke shuddered. That was twice today she thought about her mother. Maybe she was losing it, but nonetheless… Sasuke listened to her.

“Okay. Did you want to go to that all you can eat BBQ joint?”

Ino and Sakura looked at her as if she had just grown two heads.

“That’s perfect!” Sakura reached through the door and grabbed her hands.

“Do you have any dressy clothes? This occasion calls for celebrating and you can’t just celebrate in training clothes.” Ino stated.

“Um, I might. Come in, I’ll see what I have.” Sasuke gripped the opening of her robe, realizing they were having a conversation while she was still half naked and dripping wet.

She motioned for them to take a seat on her couch and left to her room.

Sasuke rummaged through her closet. She grimaced. She never had a reason to dress up before. All of her nice clothes were from before…well in any case they were all too small at this point.

She figured she would do the best she could with what she had.

On many sleepless nights, Sasuke would stay up and watch t.v.

Around 3 a.m. a particularly trashy fashion makeover show would come on. As much as she hated to admit it, Sasuke had begun to develop an interest in fashion. It was stereotypically _girly_ and not at all befitting of a shinobi, but Sasuke couldn’t help it- she liked fashion.

She pulled out a newer pair of black training tights, they would have to work. She looked around for a top, breezing past all of the t-shirts and long sleeve breathable training shirts.

 _Do I own anything else?_ She thought in exasperation.

There, pushed way back in the corner of the closet was a black turtle neck. _Okay, now this is coming together._ She looked around for one last piece. _Ah. There it is._ She pulled out a baggy, light purple sweater and put it over the turtle neck.

“Okay, I’m ready.”

“Wow, Sasuke, you look so trendy! Just like Fujimi Yukihime!” Ino squealed, talking about the famous actress.

Sasuke blushed. _Oh great, I’m already beginning to regret going out with them._

The girls left her apartment and walked over to the BBQ restaurant. Sakura and Ino talked easily with each other the whole way there. Sasuke stood in silence next to them. Thankfully, the other two girls were respecting that.

Ino walked up to the host and asked for a table for three. They were sat at a booth in the back of the restaurant.

“Isn’t this great? Maybe we’ll get to go on a joint mission together one day?” Ino settled into her seat and flagged the waiter over.

They ordered their drinks and resumed conversation. “You two are so lucky to have each other on the same team. I’m stuck with Choji and Shikamaru. Shikamaru is so lazy and Choji just goes along with whatever he says.” Ino sighed. “At least Asuma-sensei is cool. He’s the Hokage’s son by the way.” She smirked at her two friends a little bit at saying that.

“I don’t think I know who your sensei is. He was late picking you up on orientation day right? That’s pretty lame.”

“Yeah, he is pretty lame. He played this whole mind game manipulation thing on us earlier today. I totally thought we were going to fail.” Sakura ran her hand through her hair.

“He’s really strong though.” Sasuke contributed, unsure of what to add to the conversation.

The two girls looked over at her.

“I guess that’s important too.” Ino remarked thoughtfully.

The rest of their meal carried on carefree. Ino talked about her excitement at going on future missions and beginning training on her clan’s secret jutsu with her father. Sakura talked about her parent’s excitement at her placement as a genin and how they were going to take a trip to the hot springs at the outskirts of town to celebrate over the weekend.

Sasuke felt jealousy course through her. She tried to push it down.

She stood up. “I’m sorry, I don’t feel the greatest right now. I think I pushed it too hard during our survival test earlier today. I have to excuse myself. I’ll pay my share on my way out.” She left the table before the girls could get a word in edgewise.

Sasuke jumped up on the rooftops and meandered back home.

 _It’s great they get to celebrate with their family. I’m not upset at them for that._ Sasuke tried to convince herself that was true but still felt a bitterness at them.

She caught a glimpse of an orange jumpsuit on the streets below. Against her better judgement, Sasuke jumped down next to him, startling him.

“Hey! Where did you come from? You can’t just jump out at people like that ya know.” Naruto sheepishly looked around, hoping no one noticed that he jumped back in surprise when Sasuke dropped down next to him.

“Hn. Great shinobi you are. You couldn’t even notice me coming towards you. I feel so secure that you’ll be there covering my back on missions.” Sasuke rolled her eyes at him.

“Yeah, yeah.” Naruto continued walking on, already used to her harsh manner of speaking.

He looked at her outfit. “Why are you dressed like that? There’s so many layers?”

“This is called fashion, Naruto. And if you must know I went for dinner with Sakura and Ino. I left though; I wasn’t feeling well.” She softly trailed off, remembering why she left in the first place.

“Uh-oh, don’t get sick before our first mission! That would be so un-cool, ya know.” He stuck his palm out to her forehead.

“Hmm.. You don’t feel that hot to me.” Sasuke shrunk back. It had been a long time since someone reached out to check her temperature.

“What are you doing? You can’t just touch people.”

“Eh? I’m just making sure you’re alright. I can’t go on a mission if one of my team members are missing. We’re in three man squads for a reason.”

_Ah. Good point._

“I’m going to be fine Naruto. I just need rest. What are you doing out by the way?”

“Oh! Iruka-sensei took me out for ramen at Ichiraku ramen to celebrate!”

“Iruka-sensei? I didn’t know you two were close. He was always yelling at you in class.”

“Heh. Yeah, he said he has a soft spot for troublemakers like me, it reminds him of when he was in the academy.”

“Huh. He’s so serious, I have trouble seeing him as a goof like you.” Sasuke chuckled.

“Hey!” Naruto whined next to her.

“You can’t deny it, you are a goof. Loser.” Sasuke smirked at him.

“Yeah, yeah. Keep it up. I may be a goof and a loser but one day I’ll be the Hokage. Believe it!” Naruto punched the air, yelling and attracting the attention of the passersby around them.

“Sure you will.” They walked in silence for a little longer.

“I wanted to ask you about something. It’s been on my mind for a while now.” Naruto glanced over at her.

 _This is interesting._ “What did you want to ask?” She cocked her head at him.

“It’s about your goal, or well your dream for the future.”

Sasuke tensed.

Naruto continued. “You don’t have to tell me anything, I understand that but as your teammate I think that I should at least know somethi-“

“No. You don’t need to know anything.”  
  


Naruto, wisely enough, decided to drop the conversation. “Well, this is my apartment complex. I should rest up before our first real mission tomorrow.” Sasuke looked up.

It was a dump. The paint was peeling away from the wood and the stairs looked as though they were patched a few times too many for safety’s sake.

“You live here?” Sasuke asked.

“Yeah. It’s not great but it’s home!” He smiled at her.

“Have you considered moving?”

“Eh? Why would I? Besides the Hokage pays for my room and board here, so I wouldn’t really know where else to go.” He rubbed the back of his head.

“Ah.”

They stood in awkward silence for a moment.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that Sasuke took off and resumed her walk home, her detour to Naruto’s place added a few minutes onto her trip back home.

When she arrived back at her place, she gently took her sandals off and folded her clothes before placing them back in her closet.

She picked out her training clothes and laid them out for tomorrow morning. She sighed deeply.

Maybe her teammates weren’t going to be so bad.

* * *

Their first mission was a great success, as well as a great disappointment. It was D-rank, so Sasuke hadn’t expected anything life changing but all it involved was weeding an elderly lady’s garden for her.

Their subsequent missions didn’t improve.

At first Sasuke hadn’t complained. Naruto certainly was doing enough of that for all of the team members. Even Sakura had started making smart aleck remarks to their sensei.

As the missions continued, their situation didn’t change. If it wasn’t weeding a little old lady’s garden, it was helping the post office deliver mail, or painting the fence surrounding the Hokage’s residence. That was today’s mission, repainting the fence in the blistering hot sun.

“Kakashi.” Sasuke didn’t bother addressing him as sensei as her teammates did. “This is getting annoying. When are we going on a real mission?” She asked between brush strokes.

“This is a real mission.” He replied lazily, sitting underneath the shade of a tree reading his smut.

“Yeah right! When are we going to fight other shinobi and prove ourselves!” Naruto yelled back at him.

 _Finally!_ He thought. _Sasuke’s fed up too. Maybe we can all strong arm him into asking the Hokage for a real mission._

“You’re all genin and we’re at peace. The chance of you fighting enemy shinobi anytime soon is very low. Be grateful for that.” Kakashi replied, turning the page of his little orange book.

Sasuke scowled. “Then can you at least train us? I feel like I’m _losing_ strength working on these lame projects all the time. At least at the academy we were learning something. Aren’t we going to learn some kind of new jutsu or strategy techniques or anything?”

Kakashi sat up. “I suppose you have a point. Let’s finish up today’s mission and we can get started on chakra control exercises.”

Sakura shouted from further down the fence. “Finally!”

They sped through the rest of their task. Naruto made five additional shadow clones to help with that.

When they finished, they all gathered around Kakashi, waiting expectantly.

“Let’s move to the training grounds.”

They hurried over and looked at Kakashi.

“Watch carefully.” With that he walked over to a nearby tree and instead of stopping at the base of it, he put one foot up and continued to walk up the trunk.

“Whoa! Kakashi-sensei that’s insanely cool!” Naruto yelled.

“How did you do that?” Sakura gasped.

Sasuke narrowed her eyes. _How did he..?_

“It’s quite simple really. All I did was infuse chakra to my feet and used it to stick myself to the side of the tree, thereby allowing me to climb up it.”

Sasuke shot her eyebrow up in surprise. _I already infuse chakra to my feet when I run! This will be easy._

“Now, I want everyone to focus on placing the chakra in their feet and when you feel ready, attempt to climb.”

He stood back a few feet and crossed his arms.

Sasuke took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She felt the familiar feel of warm chakra move to her feet. She stepped forward and walked straight at the tree. She opened her eyes and focused as she moved closer, lifting one leg up. She placed her foot on the tree and felt the chakra make contact with the tree. _Hmph, easy._ She smirked. She placed her other foot on the tree and felt a sudden force push back, throwing her away from the tree.

She fell on her back.

“What just happened? I was sticking just fine?” She turned towards Kakashi.

“You weren’t keeping your stream of chakra consistent. You pushed too much into your feet and the force propelled you back.” He responded without looking at her.

Naruto, a few feet away at his own tree, laughed at her. “Ha! Nice try Sasuke. This is too easy.” He had both feet attached to the side of the tree and went to take a step up it. He lifted one foot up and promptly fell.

“Ow!”

“Naruto, the same goes for you. Keep it consistent. You have to keep a steady stream. Too little chakra and you will fall off.”

Sakura was determined to succeed. She was going to prove that she wasn’t a burden to her team. She still felt embarrassed that she didn’t even attempt to attack Kakashi during their survival test.

Lifting one foot up to the tree bark she stuck to the side. _Yes!_ Slowly she lifted the next foot up, sticking it successfully to the tree beside her other foot. _Cha! I can do this!_

Slowly, she lifted one foot up after the other and began to climb. Shaking, she reached a low hanging branch. She felt her chakra reserves starting to waver, so she sat down on the branch and called out to her teammates.

“Hey! Sasuke! Naruto! Look at me!” She waved down at them.

“Nice job Sakura!” Naruto shouted and waved back up at her.

Sasuke simply scowled.

* * *

“I’m sick of these lame D-rank missions! I want C-rank at least! Higher if you got it!” With that he sat down.

Iruka-sensei slammed his palms on the table. “Naruto! That level of disrespect cannot be tolerated!”

“My skills are being wasted doing these crappy missions! I don’t want anymore lame chores or missing pets, that’s final!”

Sasuke was torn between punching him and hugging him. She felt the exact same as him. _There’s no way I’m going to get stronger doing missions like this._

The Hokage looked as though he was considering his request. “Okay. We have a C-rank mission escorting someone to the Land of Waves. I think that you should be able to handle that.

Naruto stopped his yelling. “Really? Who? Is it like a princess or important dignitary?” He gazed hopefully at the Hokage.

“Well. Not exactly. Let Mr. Tazuna in please.”

The shinobi guarding the door opened it up and a hobbling old man with a light red tinge to his cheeks- _Whoa, he reeks of booze-_ stepped inside.

Sasuke stared him down. _Great, a bumbling drunk._

“This is Mr. Tazuna. He’s a bridge builder who requested shinobi escort back to the Land of Waves. He’ll mostly just need protection from bandits and any other unsavory characters that might attack him en-route to his homeland.”

Tazuna looked at the three sullen children before him. “These people are my protection? An annoying yelling orange and two little girls? I don’t trust these people at all!” He yelled.

Naruto stood up and lunged forward, Kakashi grabbed him by the head.

“Mr. Tazuna, this is the level of protection that a C-rank mission warrants. If there’s only rogue bandits to be worried about, shinobi of this level are more than sufficient.” The Hokage stared blankly at him.

“In any case, Kakashi will be joining you. He is more than capable of handing any situation that arises.”

With that, they were dismissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t think Sakura is necessarily bad, she just parrots what the adults say and they have that attitude against Naruto. There are a lot of ideas we unlearn once we have some independence and Sakura certainly outgrows that attitude of hating Naruto later on.  
> Also, in case anyone caught it, Fujimi Yukihime is the actress from the Naruto movie Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Potential Content Warning: An adult sexualizes a minor briefly (Skip the first few paragraphs to continue)
> 
> Sakura gets some flack for just standing around protecting Tazuna but truly that is what she’s hired to do. If she went to help the other two against Haku, he would be unprotected and any of Gato’s thugs could take him out. Also, there’s no way she could help Kakashi with Zabuza. Not all of a shinobi’s strength comes from fighting (although she will be doing that in upcoming chapters).

Naruto wondered if the others were as fed up with this drunken old man as he was. From the first day they met he hated the man. He not only insulted Naruto and his capabilities but Sakura and Sasuke as well. Naruto scowled at him. Mr. Tazuna scowled back.

Sakura glared at Naruto, her message clear in her eyes. _Leave it alone, Naruto._

He couldn’t believe that _this_ guy was their first C-rank mission.

They were to meet at the gates at 8 a.m. that morning. For once, Kakashi was on time. Well, by that Naruto meant he was only 30 minutes late, not three hours late. 

“Okay team 7, we will move in A formation. If we walk at a brisk pace, we should arrive in the Land of Waves in three days’ time. Ready? Move out!” Kakashi took the lead, Sasuke and Sakura stood at the back, Tazuna in the middle of the three of them.

Naruto glared at the hobbling old drunkard and zoomed up to walk alongside Kakashi.

_Three days with this guy was going to be miserable._

* * *

Their brisk pace, as it turned out, was much too quick for the elderly man. Sakura slowed her pace to keep beside him.

Sasuke kept walking along uncomfortably.

Sakura suppressed a sigh. Things had been so hot and cold with Sasuke lately. She had thought that since going out for celebratory dinner with her and Ino, Sasuke would resume their once brief friendship. However, Sasuke seemed to engage with others only at her own whim.

Sakura stared up at the sun and squeezed her eyes shut. _It was going to be along trip to the Land of Waves._

Sasuke could sense a pair of prying eyes staring lecherously at her.

She was used to getting stares but really, from a drunken old man? Sure his options were slim out here, but couldn’t he reign it in for a few days?

_Ugh. This is worse than those dumb boys in class. Way worse._

She wasn’t sure what was appropriate to bring up to a client.

She glanced ahead at Kakashi hoping to catch his attention. He had to notice right? He was a jonin for crying out loud. She continued to ignore the eyes burning into her backside.

 _Focus on the mission_ , she told herself. _This is one step closer to reaching Itachi_. She felt her throat tighten at his name and she scowled. _You never think of him by name, what’s going on with you?_ Her already miserable mood soured.

_Why did he always have to sneak into her thoughts when she wasn’t prepared._

To her side, Sakura sent a pitying look. Sasuke glared back.

It wasn’t her fault really, she must’ve noticed the man’s staring and was trying to be sympathetic but Sasuke was fixated on Itachi and whenever he was involved she always turned dour even if others weren’t aware of her thoughts.

Sakura quickly whipped her head forward, sensing the anger leak out of Sasuke. Unfortunately, it had been directed at her. Sakura felt like crying. _Why was this turning out to be so difficult?_

Sasuke sighed. She remembered Sakura’s heartfelt confession to fake Sasuke _Naruto, really_ the day they were assigned the same team.

Sakura just wanted to rekindle some flame of friendship. Sasuke respected that, it took a lot to put oneself out for rejection. Then she remembered her harsh words about Naruto. And then her invitation of friendship, then-

_Stop._

_You’ll think yourself in circles._

She took a deep breath in, counted to ten and breathed out.

She turned back to Sakura and offered up a smile. It must have been quite a bizarre sight because Sakura made a peculiar face and looked around her, finally realizing that the smile was in fact meant for her.

Her eyes widened in shock.

Sasuke faced forward again, scowling. _Great, now you just look crazy._ Maybe her intentions were misguided. _This mission is going to be long._

Kakashi, up ahead, did notice the man’s blatant staring. He thought to himself that he should say something, that was a _child_ he was drooling over for god’s sake, but he was not used to handling these situations or even having to worry about anyone’s wellbeing.

Much less the wellbeing of a child.

He wondered what Minato-sensei would have done if someone was ogling Rin that way. He was much better suited to delicate situations than Kakashi was.

He was also certain that they were being followed. Sensing the chakra around them it was fair to assume that they were only chunin level. But to be waiting for them so close to the village meant that they were waiting for a specific _someone_ to leave the village. Given the circumstances, it was safe to assume their target was the man they were escorting. Handling this would be priority one.

Naruto, meanwhile, was oblivious to everything. He kept yammering on ignoring the fact that for the most part everyone else around him was tuning out what he was saying. _Oh_ _well_ , he was used to that. It was better than the miserable silence everyone else was caught up in.

“Ne Sasuke?” Naruto directed his question towards his raven-haired companion.

He jumped to avoid walking straight through a puddle.

“Hn. I wasn’t listening loser.”

“Hey!”

Sasuke also stepped around it. _It hasn’t rained in quite a while, I’m surprised there’s a puddle all the way out here. Maybe there’s a well underground?_

Suddenly, two black figures emerged. They threw a chain towards Kakashi and it wrapped around him, crushing him instantly.

Naruto froze.

The two men turned towards the genin.

Sakura got into a defensive stance around Tazuna. _I have to protect the client, what just happened? Kakashi-sensei got taken out like nothing! Almost… too easy?_

Sakura felt a hint of smirk form, there’d be nothing to worry about.

Sasuke rushed forward to meet the men who started to barrel towards them. She kicked one squarely in the chest and he propelled backwards. The other broke past her. Naruto was still frozen.

Sasuke called out, "Sakura!" She raced to catch up to the man. Sakura grabbed a kunai and stood her ground, staring at her approaching assailants.

_Dammit! I won't make it!_

Sasuke focused the chakra in her feet and leaped forward, kicking the man in the back and pushing him to the ground, just a few meters before Sakura. Behind her she felt the hand of the first man grab the collar of her shirt and yank.

She was lifted off of the ground and her senses tingled, she felt the presence of a kunai aimed straight at her neck. She braced for impact.

The man was forcefully yanked backwards, his hand dropping Sasuke’s shirt collar and her. Sasuke turned around to see Kakashi slashing his throat, the blood spattered out in an arc, a few droplets hitting her face.

She took a calming breath and turned to see what Sakura was doing.

The second man had stood back up and resumed his movement towards Sakura _or maybe Tazuna? Who is their target?_

Kakashi reached forward and slammed him to the ground.

“Kakashi sensei! You're alive!" Naruto said incredulously.

“What you saw die was a log in a substitution jutsu. It’s not so easy to take me out.”

Sakura moved from her position by Tazuna and tied up the remaining assailant.  
  
"Now. Why don't you tell me what you're doing attacking a genin squad and a bridge builder?"

Kakashi faced the tied-up man.  
  
The man's face was covered by a device that looked similar to a scuba divers mask. Kakashi looked at the headband of the man.  
  
"You’re one of the demon Brothers of the Hidden Mist. What are you doing here?"  
  
"Like hell I’ll talk, you killed my brother!" He spit out, fuming from his spot on the ground.  
  
"Hmm. I figured that might be the case."  
  
Kakashi delivered a swift blow to the back of the man’s head, knocking him out.  
  
He faced Tazuna.  
  
"Talk. Now." His voice dropped low and his eye narrowed at the stunned man.  
  
"Our nation is small. We aren't graced with a Shinobi force like many of the other nations, both large and small. We are reliant on the small trade within our island borders. To cross the ocean for trade takes up so much effort. Mr. Gato saw our island and took advantage of that. He exploits the trade and keeps everyone under his rule. When I began to build the bridge to connect us to the mainland, he started to escalate his fear tactics. People have died waiting for me to finish this bridge. I knew that I would be targeted coming back." He blubbered and dropped his head into his hands.  
  
Kakashi frowned. "Mr. Gato you say? He's quite an affluent businessman."

He thought for a moment.

"A C-rank mission does not even begin to cover the scope of this mission. We should turn around.”  
  
"Kakashi sensei! We can't do that! This man needs our help! If we don't take this mission he will be assassinated. " Naruto shouted out, his heart already filled with sympathy for this man who only moments earlier Naruto had found to be annoying and miserable.  
  
Sasuke frowned. "Naruto, you couldn't even do anything while Sakura was about to get attacked. How can you say we should continue this mission when you won't even take on the risks?”

Naruto lowered his eyes.  
  
"Naruto, I’m inclined to agree with Sasuke. Freezing up like that is how you or your teammates die." Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck. _What a nightmare._

Naruto picked up a kunai that the second man dropped and held his hand out in front of him. With a smooth arc of his arm he whipped down and stabbed his hand.

"I won't hold us back anymore, you better believe it!"  
  
"Ah. That’s a stunning declaration Naruto but those kunai were dipped in poison, if we don't get back to the village you will die."  
  
"No way! What do I do?" He took out one of his own kunai and cut deeper into his wound, trying to drain the poison out.  
  
Kakashi stepped over to him and examined his hand. "Well now you're running the risk of bleeding out."  
  
Sasuke's eye twitched, _idiot_.  
  
Kakashi sighed deeply before stating "Tazuna, we will escort you to your village. But no more surprises. If there's anything else, tell me. Now."  
  
"There's nothing else. I swear! Thank you, sir, thank you!" Sakura went over to bandage Naruto’s hand.  
  
Kakashi wrote a status update and summoned a small brown dog. "Pakkun. Deliver this to the Hokage."  
  
He gave one last look to the man tied up and smacked his head again, satisfied he would stay there until an escort from the hidden leaf would come to pick him up.

They continued on their journey.

* * *

Naruto's ego had taken a beating. Beyond his ego, he was ashamed that he stood by while Sasuke was taking down enemies and Sakura had squared herself against an armed combatant.  
  
_What if something had happened like Kakashi-sensei said and one of them died?_ He shivered.  
  
He heard a rustle in the bush behind him. He went on high alert and threw a kunai deep into the forest.

“Naruto?! What are you doing?" Sakura yelled.

"I sensed an enemy's chakra! I swear." He pointed in the direction of his kunai.

Kakashi swooped into the forest and pulled up a white hare.

"This is the enemy huh?" _Although a white hare at this time of the year and in this location is quite odd..._ _  
_  
He quickly shot out of the trees and yelled, "watch out!"

A giant blade swung past them, aimed to take them all out. Sakura pulled Tazuna out of the way of the blade.

Sasuke grabbed shuriken from her pack and stood ready to attack. Naruto pulled two kunai out and also stood ready to attack.  
  
Kakashi's eyes widened. "You. You’re Zabuza of the mist."

* * *

The ensuing battle took all of 10 minutes. Naruto, satisfied he had redeemed himself, kept talking to Sasuke. "That was so cool! We just completely synced up, it’s like you knew exactly what I was thinking."  
  
"We only spent years together in the academy. It doesn't take a genius to figure you out." She scoffed. She was much more concerned with the sharingan that Kakashi had brandished.  
  
Sakura sulked. _No, it was a good plan. One that worked well enough to surprise a rogue ninja._

She had felt so confident after protecting Tazuna the first time around, but at the end of the day all she did in both situations was stand there.

Kakashi suddenly fell to the ground. The genin rushed over.

"Sensei!" Sakura yelled.

"Ngh."

He pushed his hands into his eyes. "I used too much chakra." With that he passed out.  
  


* * *

Team 7 arrived at Tazuna's house and waited for Kakashi to wake up.

By the time that happened, about 3 days later, Naruto had inevitably inserted himself deeper into the drama surrounding the island. He was able to convince their sensei to stay until the bridge was completed.

Sasuke had yet to find a time to talk with Kakashi, alone. She was starting to suspect he was intentionally avoiding interacting with her.  
  
They walked into a nearby forest to continue their training in chakra control.

Sakura, to her own surprise excelled. It was the perfect self-esteem boost after the events of the past week.  
  
Naruto and Sasuke however, struggled to get more than a few feet up in the air.  
  
Beside her she heard Naruto yell out. "Hey I made it!"

He was sitting on a branch high up in the canopy.  
  
Sasuke felt the crushing embarrassment of being behind not only Sakura _intolerable but she could begrudgingly admit that the girl was smart_ but Naruto _an idiot at the best of times_.  
  
She headed back to Tazuna's house for night.

She wasn't sure how to feel. She stood up to Zabuza, she stood up to the Demon Brothers of the Mist but yet here she was, failing miserably in chakra control. She could use to it accel her running but the fine tuning involved for tree climbing was beyond her control.

She laid down in her cot and stared at the ceiling. She heard Sakura climb into bed next to her. She swallowed her pride.

"Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could help me with chakra control tomorrow?"

She heard Sakura’s sheets rustle as she turned in her cot.

"Of course!"

There was a prolonged silence before Sasuke whispered "Thanks. "  
  
Sakura soon fell asleep but Sasuke stayed awake. She heard the rustle of Tazuna, Kakashi and Tazuna’s daughter, Tsunami.  
  
She couldn't hear what they were talking about, only the low rumble of their voices  
  
After an hour she heard them head up for night.  
  
She listened to Tsunami and Kakashi talk outside his bedroom door. C _ome on lady. Go to bed already._

She heard a giggle from Tsunami and finally they both went to their respective rooms.

_Sheesh. It was about time._

Sasuke slipped her feet over the side of her cot and put on her slippers. She glanced over at Sakura’s cot and quietly slipped out of their temporary room.  
  
She crossed the hall and knocked as softly as she could, so as to not wake the other occupants of the house.

She waited a few moments before hearing the knob twist and the door creak open.

"Sasuke? Do you know what time it is? You should be in bed by now." His voice drawled out lazily.  
  
"I've been wanting to talk to you all week but you're never alone."

He scratched his head with one hand brought it down to his side.

"Ah. I suppose that's fair. I'm sure I have a guess of what you've been wanting to ask me."

He stepped out of the door and motioned for her to follow him. They went outside and sat dangling their feet off of the dock outside their hosts’ house.  
  
Sasuke started. "How did you get a sharingan?"  
  
He hooked his arms through the horizontal safety beams.

"Well, a friend gave it to me."

"A friend gave you their eye? That seems a bit extreme. " Sasuke wasn't sure she believed that.

"He was dying, and I had lost mine in a fight a few hours before. It was his parting gift to me, as long as I promised to honor his final wish."  
  
He stared out to the sea.

"Were you able to honor his wish?"

He looked at her. "Unfortunately, not as well as I could have, but I'm trying to make up for it. " He ruffled her hair.  
  
"So what was his name. He must've been an Uchiha."

"He passed before you were born. I doubt you would know him."

"So? I might have known his parents."

"He was an orphan. He was raised by grandmother."

"So then what was his grandmother’s name?"

"What is this, 20 questions? Why does it matter?"

"It just does. Are you going to tell me or not?"

Kakashi looked back out to the sea. Truth be told he hadn’t thought about Obito’s grandmother in a long time. He struggled to pull a name to the surface of his mind.

"Her name was Kanako. She was widowed, lost her child, and lost her grandchild. She was a warm woman who unduly faced many hardships."

Sasuke nodded to herself.

"Okay."

"Are you satisfied now?"

"Yes. This was Kanako who lived near the senbei shop correct? She was a kind woman, lonely though. Thankfully she passed a year before the massacre. It was peaceful if I remember. She was a distant relative of my cousin Shisui."

She swung her legs back and forth over the water. There was much to contemplate there.  
  
"So you didn't steal it. That’s what’s important."

"No. I didn’t steal it. " Kakashi muttered softly.

"Okay." Sasuke repeated even more quietly to herself.

The waves lapped at the shore and both Kakashi and Sasuke stared out, lost in thought.

Kakashi was the first to get up, patting Sasuke on the shoulder. "I'd say it’s time for bed now don't you?"

"Yes."

Sasuke followed him upstairs and opened the door to her room with Sakura. She slipped out of her slippers and crawled under the blanket; the smell of salt water caught in her hair.

* * *

The next morning Sasuke sat down for breakfast. She noticed that Naruto was not sitting with them.

"Did Naruto leave already?"

"I don't think he ever came back last night." Kakashi said.

Sasuke wolfed down the rest of her food and excused herself.

"I'll meet you where we were training yesterday Sakura okay? You don't need to rush I’ll practice some beforehand."

She raced out the door and back to their makeshift training grounds.

She saw a slim girl in a beautiful kimono with a thatched basket walking out of the trail. She nodded in acknowledgement towards her and continued on.

She walked up to Naruto. "Who was that girl?"

He looked over at her eyes wide like saucers. "That was a boy!"

* * *

Sakura arrived half an hour later.

Naruto was steadily improving on his own. Sasuke however, was making extraordinarily little improvement.  
  
"This is kinda fun ya know!" Naruto shouted from halfway up the tree.  
  
Sasuke was climbing high but struggling to keep the flow steady. At times she would push too much out and feel herself fall back, luckily, she was able to correct it but her jumpy back and forth movements were anything but smooth.

"You look like a baby gazelle!" Naruto shouted at her laughing.

"Shut up loser."

"I’m not the loser here Sasuke. Look how badly you're doing."

She felt like screeching.  
  
Sakura shouted up. "Sasuke! Remember the breathing exercises I told you about! Imagine a stream flowing through your body!"

 _Well which one is it! Breathe or imagine flowing water.?_  
  
Sasuke jumped back down to the ground.  
  
"How am I supposed to do both?"  
  
"Well you don't have to do both, just find one that works."  
  
"I already know how to move chakra around but keeping it at one steady level is so _hard_."  
  
Sakura thought about. "When you're wobbling around up there it’s because you over correct. Try making a bunch of small corrections at all times so that you maintain a balance."  
  
Sasuke eyed the tree. "Hn."  
  
She stretched her arms up above head and walked towards the tree. _Make a bunch of small consistent corrections I can do that._

She attached herself to the tree. She sensed the chakra flowing and before it could get too powerful, she made a small correction.

To her surprise she stuck to the tree.  
  
She would really have to make it a point to be nicer to Sakura.

* * *

The next morning she woke up to sunlight streaming in and seagulls guffawing over the sea.

She let Sakura continue sleeping and got dressed, donning her typical high collared navy shirt with the Uchiha fan. It was shaping up to be a warm day, so she opted to put white shorts on. She never saw Kakashi or her teammates change outfits, but she felt like she would still be allowed to do so.

 _Maybe I could start a trend where shinobi dressed for the weather_.

She rolled her eyes. She put her hair up into a ponytail and walked down the stairs.  
  
Tsunami was making breakfast; her son Inari was sweeping the dining room.

"Good morning Sasuke." Tsunami called out.

"Good morning."

She sat at the table and listened to Inari and his mother chat carefree.

Eventually Sakura and Kakashi made their way down.

"Is Naruto up yet sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Oh he's still sleeping. I think we should let him rest, he stayed out all night training the past few days."  
  
The three finished eating breakfast in peace. Tazuna was headed to work on the bridge. Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi accompanied him, ready to help finish the bridge and get home.  
  
They arrived to see Tazuna's workers knocked unconscious with Zabuza and the masked hunter shinobi standing over their bodies.  
  


* * *

Naruto's attacks from outside the crystal mirrors were their only chance.

Sasuke thought rapidly of a plan, maybe if she-  
  
"Sasuke I made it!" Naruto shouted running to her side.  
  
"Naruto! You were supposed to stay outside the mirrors and find a weakness!" Sasuke shouted in exasperation.  
  
"Oh."  
  
Outside the crystal mirrors, Sakura stood guarding Tazuna.  
  
A mist had covered the surrounding area and she could only hear faint noises in the distance.

The clang of metal from left meant Kakashi was still up and fighting.  
  
The occasional scream and grunt to her right meant Sasuke and Naruto were still fighting although it was clear to her they were at the disadvantage.  
  
_Come on sakura what can you do!_

There's...

There's...

Nothing.

She wasn’t able to do anything. Her teammates were fighting the assailants, she was protecting their client.

If all else failed, she had to be the last line of defense.

It was what all the training manuals and all the plan simulations said to do but she still felt....weak.

 _Cha! Get over yourself Sakura! Your sensei and your teammates are putting their lives on the line right now, this isn't the time to throw a pity party! Stay focused and stay alert._  
  
She shifted her feet and focused on the noises surrounding her.

To her right she heard a blood curdling scream. _Sasuke? No, it was too deep... Naruto? Crap! What was going over there?_ _  
  
_

* * *

Naruto grabbed her limp body and set her gently on the ground.

"Why did you do that? Why would you save me?" Tears streamed down his face.

Sasuke sputtered up blood.

"My body... moved on its own." She reached out and touched Naruto's cheek.

"Please my dream, promise me... you... will kill my brother. Sakura, she knows… some of the details.”

Her red eyes glazed over, and her eyelids shut.

“And promise me, you’ll be… Hokage.”

 _Is this...dying? It's so peaceful. Is this what my mother felt?_  
  
One last breath shuddered out.  
  
Sakura saw the red chakra shoot up out of the crystal mirrors before Kakashi could sense it.  
  
He summoned his ninja hounds. "Find Zabuza and restrain him."

 _This needs to end already. I have to see what's going on with Naruto and Sasuke._ _  
_  
He heard a bellow 100 meters ahead. They found him.

Kakashi rushed forward. Zabuza was caught in the jaws of his ninja hounds.

"It’s over now." Kakashi activated his chidori and ran it straight through...Haku?

* * *

Sasuke woke up to pure chaos. Apparently, she hadn't been dying, just swirling around in the ether for a bit.

Her whole body ached. She tried rolling over, but her body wasn't responding.

A senbon pierced her throat, jostled by the movement.

"Hngh"

She counted, _1, 2, 3!_ And rolled to her side.

 _1, 2, 3!_ She pushed herself up. She felt additional senbon pierce her knees and thigh.

No matter. She was up.

Panting, she assessed her surroundings.

She saw an army of Kakashis push forward against Gato's thugs.

Maybe she was dead. None of this made sense.

She thought about it for a while longer and became more centered on her surroundings.

No she wasn’t dead, they were fighting. Those were shadow clones.

She coughed out blood, hacking away.

"Sasuke!" Sakura came hurdling towards her, Tazuna in tow.

“What’s going on? Where’s Haku, What’s Kakashi doing?”

Sakura knelt down by her, and started gently plucking the senbon out.

“Haku is dead. Zabuza is dying. There’s.. a lot that has happened. Let’s focus on you right now. I can fill you in after you’ve rested.”

Sasuke closed her eyes.

“Where’s Naruto?”

Sakura smiled. “He’s fine too. He really was amazing.”

Sasuke let her head drop in Sakura’s lap. _Good for him._

* * *

The bridge was finished in less than a week, the islanders were bolstered by the defeat of Gato’s men. Sasuke stayed at Tazuna’s house and was nursed back to health by Tsunami and Sakura.

She heard the rest of the story from a variety of sources, Sakura, Inari, and even Naruto himself.

She was impressed. She was also uneasy.

Her near death experience realigned her goals for her. In her dying breath, she made sure to pass on some _intimate_ knowledge. She wanted to talk to Naruto about it.

She got up from her cot. Her knees shook. One of the senbon severed a tendon, making moving hard to do for the foreseeable future.

She hobbled down to the kitchen and called Naruto over. “Let’s talk. You can come to my room.”

She motioned for him to sit on a chair in the corner of the room and she sat at the end of her cot.

“Naruto. I feel like I need to explain myself.” He shifted in his seat.

“My last words to you, I want you to forget about them. Please don't ask Sakura what I meant either.” She pleaded to him in a whisper.

Naruto swung his feet, his legs too short to reach the floor.

“If you don't want to tell me about it you don't have to. I never had a brother, but I imagine something really bad had to happen for you to feel that way.” He paused before continuing.

“But... if I can help you reach your goal in any way just ask. You’re my teammate, my rival, and most importantly my friend. "  
  
Sasuke stayed still, she looked down at her hands and felt a lump form in her throat.

“Can I tell you a secret? It doesn't mean you have to tell me yours. I just want you to know about mine.” Naruto continued, looking earnestly at her.  
  
Sasuke nodded.  
  
"I have a demon fox sealed inside me. That’s why everyone hates me." He said it nonchalantly barely masking the bitterness he truly felt.  
  
"When I thought you were dead, part of it started to leak out. No one had ever sacrificed themselves like that for me before." He paused. "Well, that's not true, Iruka sensei had but… it doesn't matter."

"I saw your body and this massive, evil force talked to me, saying he would lend me power if I let him have control. So, I gave in. Haku's mirrors were shattered and I would've gone on to kill him, but I reigned it in. The feeling of having that thing take over was horrible." He shuddered.

Sasuke sat in silence.

“What are you thinking?” He peered at her.

“I’m not sure.” She sat a while longer.

“It doesn’t change how I feel about you. You’re still an annoying loser, but” she paused and struggled with her next words, “you’re my friend.”

They smiled at each other.

“I’m not telling you anything about my goal though. Promise me you won’t bring it up.” She stared intently at him.

“I promise!” He grinned his big goofy grin at her and Sasuke believed him.

* * *

Sasuke was eventually healed well enough to limp back to Konoha with her team. She thought about her conversation with Naruto. There was a lot to unpack there, but she meant what she had told him.

She thought about her near-death experience. There was a lot to unpack there, too.  
  
Conflict was arising inside her, but Sasuke wasn’t sure what the outcome would be.

She spent the trip back silent.  
  
Sakura, who was used to such behavior as it was a familiar pattern of Sasuke’s to retreat internally after conflict, let her sit.

Naruto, who had bared his darkest secret to his newfound friend, found her silence nerve wracking.  
  
"We should spend the night here. If we rest up, we can push through and finish the trip in one shot tomorrow." Kakashi stated as the outline of a small village grew closer on the horizon.

The genin all agreed, Sasuke especially was glad to give her still weak legs a rest.  
  
They found an inn at the center of town and paid for their rooms. Naruto and Kakashi in one, Sasuke and Sakura in the other.

In the boy’s room Naruto put on his pajamas and sat at the edge of his bed, his fingers picking at the thread of the sheet.  
  
"Hey sensei. I know I'm supposed to keep this a secret, or at least that’s what Iruka sensei said, but uh. Well I told Sasuke about the demon fox inside me and I thought she was okay with it but now she's not talking to me."

Tears pricked at his eyes.

"What should I do?"  
  
_Oh boy._ Kakashi looked up from his chapter of Make-out paradise.

"Naruto, if she's your friend, she'll eventually get over it. If you've talked about it already there’s nothing else you can do. Just give her space. Who knows, she might be worried about something entirely different." He gave him a reassuring thumbs up.

"I don’t know much about interpersonal relationships though, and even less about the minds of women, so maybe you should be asking Sakura." He rubbed the back of his head and laughed.  
  
"Oh. Sensei, you're pretty hopeless ya know?"

* * *

The next morning, they resumed their return trip. They traveled through the day and through the night, arriving at the village walls just before sunrise.  
  
"Go home and rest up. I'll deliver the mission write up. I'll summon you in a few days for additional training. In the meantime, take it easy and treat yourselves to a few days off. I don't want you training without me got it?" Kakashi flickered away, leaving the genin to go their separate ways.  
  
Sasuke started home when she noticed a presence following her. She frowned and slipped her hands into her pockets.

She took a sharp turn and grabbed a kunai. When the presence rounded the corner as well she pushed them against the wall and held the kunai to their throat.  
  
"Naruto? Why are you following me?" She scowled and removed her hand.  
  
"Sorry! I just wanted to talk!" He raised his hands up and shrugged.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Okay?"

He looked around. "Alone, please."

"Fine. We can talk at my place. We're almost there anyways."

They walked in silence the rest of the way.

Sasuke unlocked her door and ushered Naruto in.  
  
"I’m putting the kettle on, would you like a cup of tea?”

“Sure.” He looked around absent mindedly.

Sasuke put the kettle on the stove and grabbed two mugs. She started to get nervous. _What else does he want to tell me? Is there more than a demon fox going on with him?_

She sat down at the kitchen table opposite of Naruto.

“So. What did you want to talk about?” She folded her hands on the table and looked at him.

“Ah. I just wanted to check in. Since I told you about my _thing_ you’ve been awfully quiet. I just wanted to take some time and answer any question if you had them.” He lowered his eyes, examining the pattern of the tablecloth.

“Hn.” She thought for a moment.

“I’m not worried about your _thing_. I’m dealing with some things on my own. I don’t want to talk about it though.” Sasuke eventually responded.

“Okay. Good!” He grinned at her before his face fell. “Oh, I mean it’s not good that you’re going through something but, uh, I’m glad you aren’t mad!”

“I’m actually kind of relieved you have this secret power.” She grinned slyly at him. “Now I know you won’t hold me back, dead last.”

“Yeah right! I was always strong! Believe it! Even without this demon’s power I would totally be able to beat you no problem!” He stood up and pointed accusingly at her.

Sasuke raised her eyebrows. “I’m kidding, Naruto.”

“Oh. Heh. I knew that.” He sat back down. Just then the kettle rang out, shocking both kids.

Sasuke poured them a cup and sat down to enjoy Naruto’s company.


	7. Chapter 7

Despite the fact that Sasuke hated what she was about to do, she knew it was inevitable. She was struggling and she had to talk with somebody.

The only person who knew _that man_ and was still alive would have to hear her out. She left the village and started on her way.

She felt some of her pressure leave as she came closer to those familiar grounds. The dilapidated buildings were a welcome sight to her.

She wormed her way through the maze of halls and knocked on the door. Tamaki opened up.

“Sasuke! It’s been a while!” She smiled at her warmly.

Sasuke smiled back weakly.

“I have something important to talk about, is Granny cat around?”

“Hmm. She should be close by. Maybe Hina can take you to her?” Tamaki picked up a sleeping figure and gently woke her up, telling her what Sasuke wanted.

“Mmmm… I’ll take you to Granny cat, but you owe me catnip, and lots of it.”

“I can arrange that. Thank you.” Sasuke bowed to the cat.

She followed the cat out of the building over to the edge of a nearby forest. There she found Granny cat sitting underneath a tree smoking, her eyes closed in contentment. Hina jumped onto a branch above her and laid out in the sun.

“Sasuke. It’s been a while. How’s being a genin?” She puffed out lazily.

“Granny cat. I’m struggling. I feel like I’m caught between these two worlds where I can’t fully be happy no matter what I do.” She couldn’t hold it back.

Granny cat opened her eyes.

“I feel it so heavy in my soul. If I think about it, I feel like I’ll fall apart.”

“Okay, tell me what’s bothering you.” She sat a little straighter and faced Sasuke squarely.

Granny cat observed the girl before her. Life had been tough to her.

Life had been tough for Granny as well. Being around for the destruction of her city during the last Great Ninja War, seeing the buildings turn to ruin, and losing her daughter had nearly destroyed her once upon a time. Life went on.

Sasuke certainly had not had it easy. She was not, however, the first person to lose her family, or to be betrayed, or to be a victim of violence.

For Sasuke too life would go on, but Granny cat knew that she would not listen to her. She would have to come to that conclusion on her own.

“My mother told me once, when I made my first ever friends, that it’s lonely going through life without bonds. That all she ever wanted for me was to be happy. These friends that I have now, make me happy.” Sasuke stopped and put her hand to her mouth, holding back a sob that seemed to bubble up out of nowhere.

“I’m worried. Itachi told me that the path to power was to break those bonds. I must witness the death of those closest to me. Even if I don’t break these bonds myself to obtain power, there’s a chance that someone else will come along and take them away from me. I couldn’t handle either of those things happening.” She looked up at the sky.

She kept her eyes open, unblinking.

_The sun is awfully bright today, I can feel my eyes water._

“I can’t just ignore Itachi. Thinking about him living every day, like nothing happened to our clan makes me so angry I just can’t accept that.” She took a deep breath and exhaled.

Sasuke knew that she was rambling, but seeing as Granny cat was still listening intently to her she felt she could continue.

“If I don’t get to his level of power, he wins. Our clan’s history gets wiped out, tarnished by his actions. I want to redeem that. It seemed so clear not so long ago but now I don’t know anything.” Sasuke fell to her knees and put her head in her hands.

Granny cat thought a long time before answering. Small puffs of smoke rings made their way out the end of her pipe.

“Sasuke. I see that you’re struggling, but I would not dare tell you how to live your life. Only you can decide that.”

Granny cat figured that it was harsh, but it was the truth. No one, no matter how trusted or close to Sasuke could give her a satisfactory answer. If Granny cat told her to give up revenge, it would anger Sasuke. If someone else came along and told her to seek vengeance, Sasuke would take it as a threat to her precious people. _No, there’s nothing any of us can do for you sweet Sasuke._

Sasuke’s heart dropped. _So, not even you can help me._

Granny cat stopped talking and mulled her next words over carefully. “I can say, however, that your mother was an incredible woman and smart as a whip. It’s worth carrying her words with you through life.”

That’s all that she could offer. Maybe one day Granny cat could share her story of descent into darkness and her slow crawl out of it, but not until Sasuke was convicted in her own mind.

Hina jumped down from her branch and rubbed her head against Sasuke’s lap, purring gently.

Granny cat stood up, her bones creaking at the movement.

“We’ve certainly appreciated your presence here the last few years, and I have to say I’m honored you came to talk to me about this struggle.”

She let out a deep sigh.

“My last opinion on the matter is this: Ever since you were a child you trailed after Itachi. It’s up to you if you want to keep doing that your whole life or not. I can’t help you make that decision.”

She stretched out her limbs and pulled Sasuke up from her knees.

“If you’re looking for a distraction, I need help putting food out for all the stray cats here.”

Sasuke brushed the residual tears from her cheeks. “I can help. I have a break for the next few days anyways.”

She followed Granny cat back to the hideout and spent the rest of the day with Tamaki and Granny cat, feeding and hanging out with the cats.

* * *

Sasuke knew she still had a lot to think about, but she pushed it to the back of her mind. She was tired of all of this. Kakashi had called them for a mission and she was in desperate need of a distraction.

She arrived right on time along with Sakura. Naruto came later, adjusting to Kakashi’s routine lateness. Kakashi arrived last.

“Yo. Sorry I’m late, afraid I got lost on the path of life.” He gave them all a smile.

Sakura’s eye twitched. _I’m sure that’s what happened you no good lazy-_

“Sensei! I’m ready for another mission. No more of these lame D-ranks, I’m ready for all the action!” Naruto yelled enthusiastically, interrupting Sakura’s train of thought.

“Our last mission was a fluke, don’t expect anything like that happening again for quite a while.” Kakashi told his boisterous student.

“No way! We showed the old man Hokage just what we were made of last time, he should know not to waste our talents on kid stuff.” Naruto whined.

“Naruto just be happy we’re back doing missions instead of sitting around the house all day. I got so bored waiting around for Kakashi-sensei to call us together.” Sakura sighed. Her parents had made sure that during her so-called break she did more than her fair share of help around the house.

“Sasuke agrees with me right Sasuke?” Naruto asked her expectantly.

Sasuke blinked. “Why are you dragging me into this?” Her tone was harsher than she intended.

Naruto deflated.

As it ended up, their day would be filled with small tasks and chores around the village much to Naruto’s chagrin.

From weeding a woman’s garden, to dog walking, to picking up trash the tasks became more and more menial.

Sasuke focused on the chatter of Naruto and Sakura next to her, letting her mind wander as she walked alongside them.

She thought about a conversation she had with Kakashi the second night they were on their break.

_He told me he’d start training me on techniques with the sharingan but so far, it’s all been the same as before. From what he said, it’s safe to assume he hasn’t read the stone table underneath the Naka shrine. Should I tell him about it?_

Sasuke emptied her mind. She was thinking too much again.

A hawk cawed in the distance, causing Kakashi to look up. He dismissed them for the day. “I’ll call us all together later. See ya.”

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were walking together to head to the training grounds.

Even if Kakashi was gone for the day, there was no reason they should slack off.

It was an uneventful walk until Konohamaru and his preschool friends jumped out from their poorly disguised hiding spot.

“Boss! You said you’d train with us today!” The small child yelled accusingly. His two cronies backing him up.

Naruto rolled his eyes. “Can’t you see I’m busy pipsqueak?” Konohamaru was going to ruin his reputation, he couldn’t be seen hanging around with children all day.

Konohamaru examined Sasuke and Sakura. “Ah! I get it. You dog. You have two girlfriends don’t ya? Nicely done!” He gave a big thumbs up to Naruto.

“Ahaha, well you see that’s _about_ right. These are my teammates but Sakura here is basically my girl-“ Naruto was cut off by Sakura’s swift punch to his face.

“Boss!” Konohamaru and his cronies ran over to his side as he slumped down to his knees.

Sakura was skulking away. _That idiot, he has to stop saying such embarrassing things._

Sasuke groaned. _Great, I won’t get any better if I continue to train by myself but these losers are so obsessed with everything else around them. Maybe I could convince Kakashi to start giving me one-on-one training sessions? Or at the very least some advice?_

“You hag! You’re too ugly for our Boss anyways with your wide forehead!” Konohamaru shouted at Sakura’s back.

She stiffened. Slowly she turned around, enraged. It seemed to everyone watching this scene unfold that even the birds, who had been previously chirping carefree, were wise enough to shut up and let Sakura let her rage out.

Konohamaru realized he was in deep, deep trouble. He correctly assumed that his only option was to run.

Sakura raced towards him. “I’m not above hitting a child you creep!” She yelled as he ran away.

Konohamaru turned around the corner and ran straight into a mysterious boy.

“Watch it you jerk.” The boy that Konohamaru ran into sneered down at him.

He was wearing a black jumper with a hood on imitating pointed animal ears, his face was painted with a bunch of purple lines across it in a repetitive pattern. He picked Konohamaru up by the back of his shirt.

“S-sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” Konohamaru stuttered. He hadn’t seen this shinobi around before, his aura was deceitful.

“No you weren’t. Now you’re gonna pay.” The boy smiled ominously at him.

“Leave it alone Kankuro.” His blonde-haired companion said. “You know he doesn’t like it when you cause a scene.” She looked around nervously, but her words were darkly teasing.

“Well he’s not here, is he?” Kankuro replied.

Naruto ran up to confront them, his fists clenched. No one messed with his twerp.

Sasuke put her hand out to stop him.

The air between the two groups was tense.

Sasuke tilter her chin up at their headbands. “Why are there shinobi from Sunagakure here?” She squinted at them.

“You’re a long way from home. Why cause trouble in a foreign land?” She nodded her head towards Konohamaru. “That’s the Hokage’s grandson, by the way. It wouldn’t bode well for you to harm him.” She let a hint of a threat linger in her words.

“Tsch. As if I care about that, or what some scrawny princess has to say about foreign diplomacy. _We’re_ the Kazekage’s children by the way.” He started to say something else before a hand made out of sand came out to grab him.

“Kankuro. That’s enough.” A low voice calmy stated, just a few steps away from Sasuke.

She flinched. _Who is this kid? He’s at a jonin’s level, I didn’t sense him at all!_

All of them turned to look at the newcomer. He had striking red hair, deep set eyes, and a giant gourd strapped to his back.

His chakra reeked of misery.

The red-haired boy looked younger than both of his companions, _siblings, if what the older boy said about their father was true_.

“You’re a disgrace to our village.” He said it matter of fact.

“Whoa, they started it! They came running out of nowhere and ran right into us it w-“ Kankuro was visibly shaken, a thin bead of sweat ran down his forehead.

“Shut up. Or I’ll kill you.”

The older boy paled. “You’re right I was totally out of line. It won’t happen again.”

 _This guy has an evil look in his eye._ “Who are you?” Sasuke asked him.

Gaara looked her up and down. “I’m Gaara of the Sand. I’m curious about you as well. Identify yourself.”

She looked him dead in the eye. “I’m Uchiha Sasuke.”

He refused to look away, Sasuke was determined to match him. They would have maintained this the rest of the day if not for a sudden,

“And I’m Uzumaki Naruto!”

“I don’t care.” Naruto sulked, moving towards Konohamaru for moral support.

“You’re genin as well?” Gaara stated, more than asked. “I hope to encounter you again in the chunin exams.”

With that he disappeared with a whirl of his sand. His siblings disappearing as well.

 _That guy is bad news._ Sasuke crossed her arms. _And he gives me the creeps._

An undeniable thrill ran through her. _Finally, a worthy opponent._

“Boss. That was pretty lame.” Konohamaru told Naruto.

Naruto stayed silent.

He perked his head up a moment later to ask, “Hey Sakura, what was that thing they mentioned? The chunin exams?”

“Huh? You don’t know what the chunin exams are? Are you for real? Those are the exams we take in order to advance from genin to chunin?” She looked at him as if he had asked what the Hokage was.

“Oh. Ha, I knew that I was just joking!” He blushed uncharacteristically.

Sasuke rolled her eyes.

She turned to her teammates. “Hey, let’s ask Kakashi if we can take the exams.” They both stopped their bickering and turned to her.

“Yeah now you’re talking!” Naruto shouted and punched his fist in the air.

“I think that I’m ready too. Let’s do it.” Sakura smiled at her, only a hint of unease persisting there.

Sasuke put her hands in her pockets and leaned back against the fence. _Now I can see just how much farther I have to go to reach Itachi._

She shocked herself, realizing she had been addressing _him_ by name recently. She didn’t pause to think about what that could mean and instead buried the thought.

* * *

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were waiting at the bridge Kakashi had instructed them to meet at that morning. It was nearing the afternoon now.

Sasuke picked a stray hair off of her shirt and dropped it into the water below. She followed it with her eyes before losing track of it underneath the bridge.

Sakura exploded next to her. “Why does he always pull this crap! He says meet at one time and then comes hours later. Doesn’t he care about _our_ time?”

Naruto nodded along emphatically beside her.

“I'm sorry you feel that way Sakura but perhaps I can make it up to you."

Kakashi said appearing suddenly behind her.

Sakura paled.

"As you may have heard by now, Konohagakure is this year’s host for the chunin exams. I recommended all three of you. It's entirely voluntary but if you decide to go ahead, meet at the academy in room 301 at 1:00pm, one week from now."

He handed them their registration forms. "See ya." He moved to disappear but Sasuke reached out to stop him.  
  
"Kakashi. I wanted to ask you about one of the competitors from Suna."

He turned back around and faced his students.  
  
"Hmm. You can ask but I can guarantee you now that I don't know about the other nations’ attendees. "

Sasuke wasn’t swayed. The way that he had stared at her, the way that he interacted with his siblings was… indescribable.   
  
"He’s the Kazekage's kid. He came with his siblings." Sasuke thought about what she wanted to say.  
  
Naruto burst out, "He's a real scary guy! Him and his siblings! He feels... evil!"

Kakashi put his hand on his chin. 

"Hmmm, well we are allied with the Land of Wind but in these exams that means nothing. There's always the risk of death, or permanent injury. You might encounter lots more like him. Think about what you want to do and register at the end of the week, or don't." With that he poofed away, leaving his students speechless.  
  
"Well, I'm not scared. I say let's do it!" Naruto shouted.  
  
"I’m... a little scared but yeah let's destroy these exams and all become chunin!" Sakura punched the air.  
  
"Hn. Like I'd back down from a little competition. "

* * *

The end of the week came quicker than Sasuke expected.

She stretched out of bed, put on her typical training outfit, slipped on her shoes, and headed out the door.  
  
Team 7 had planned to meet beforehand, about half an hour early and register together.  
  
Sakura spotted Sasuke across the sea of meandering genin and waved her over.  
  
"Sasuke! Naruto and I are over here!"  
  
Sasuke wove through the crowd. "We're all here. Should we head in?"  
Her teammates nodded in agreement and they walked into their familiar school grounds.  
  
Up ahead, there was a commotion. A boy in a green jumpsuit and bowl cut was pushed backwards.  
  
 _What's going on there? I feel the threads of a genjutsu here. Is this a test or are the competitors already starting to sabotage us?_

Sasuke glanced around suspiciously, searching for anyone who was out of place.  
  
The boy's teammates were standing by him with their arms crossed. Sasuke recognized the boy with pale pink orbs for eyes as someone belonging to the Hyuuga clan. The kunoichi with buns on her head Sasuke had never seen before.

 _This team doesn't look like anything particularly concerning. They can’t even fight back against these bullies._  
  
Sasuke was getting ready to lead her team past the commotion to the stairs. She assumed that her teammates were already aware of the genjutsu covering the door number.  
  
Naruto, in typical fashion, felt the need to intervene.  
  
"Hey. What’s going on here." He leaned forward towards the two boys with leaf headbands who were pushing the bowl cut boy around.

They sized Naruto up and determined he wasn’t worth acknowledging.

“Please let us through, we have to register in this room.” The kunoichi with the buns asked.

One of the boys pushed her back, sending her flying.

“That’s harsh!” One of the voices from the crowd called out.

"We're just weeding out the losers, don't mind us. It wouldn't do to have a bunch of cowards become chunin. If they can't even make it past us, they have no business becoming squad leaders. That’s what chunin become, they can lead squads and hold their teammates lives in their hands.”

Sasuke was getting fed up with their antics.

“Sakura, why don’t you explain it to them and we can move on.” She said impatiently.

“Huh? Oh. Right. Just let them through! While you’re at it, just drop this illusion anyways, we can all see through it. This is just the second floor.”

The two boys smirked. “You think that because you can see through an illusion you’re qualified to take the exams?” One of them, whose nose had been sniffling the whole conversation, raised his leg and moved to attack Sakura.

Naruto moved to protect his teammate and stop the attack.

Suddenly, the boy with the bowl cut appeared in front of both of them and stopped their movements.

“This behavior is unacceptable and quite unyouthful!” He stated with authority.

Naruto’s eyes widened in surprise. _Unyouthful? I like that._

Out of nowhere, with a fiery passion, the boy turned towards Sakura and loudly exclaimed, “Sakura! My name is Rock Lee! Please be my girlfriend I will protect you until the end of time!” He brandished a big thumbs up.

"Uh. No." She blinked a few times. _Is he serious?_

"Why?!"

"You’re a weirdo. "

She grabbed Sasuke and Naruto and hastily pulled them towards the stairs.

* * *

Sasuke noted with disdain that the genjutsu she, Sakura, and Naruto, had all seen through so effortlessly had indeed stopped quite a few entrants from proceeding.

At the registration desk, she heard the proctors turn away a small group of two, explaining that all three members were needed to continue. _That was a lucky occurrence, I had wondered if Sakura would compete with us, thankfully she is._

She felt a shiver go through her. As more people were filtering through into the first exam room, she felt eyes peer at her. Headbands from the five great nations as well as some of the smaller ones were seen all around the room.

She heard whispers and the occasional questioning voice of _Uchiha?_

She momentarily cursed her determination of wearing her clans mark proudly on the back of her shirts.

Then she scoffed and straightened up with pride. _Stare away, I don’t care if I make myself a target._

“Hey. Sakura. The atmosphere is kinda tense yeah?” Naruto asked.

“Yeah, it’s scary actually.” She shuddered.

Across the room a high-pitched voice shrieked. “Saaaasuke! You made it! I knew you would!”

Ino ran over, her teammates trailing lazily behind her.

Sasuke rolled her eyes. _I’m getting used to Sakura, but Ino still grates on me._

She let her teammates catch up with their former classmates. Eventually Hinata, Kiba, Shino came over to join the conversation.

_So, all the rookies nine came huh?_

She noticed that their loud talkative voices had drawn the attention of all the other participants.

A silver-haired leaf genin a few years older than them came over. “You should keep your mouths shut, there are a lot of strong competitors here who would love to pick off some overeager chumps. And that’s friendly advice, not a threat.” He smiled widely at them.

Sasuke felt uneasy around him. She turned to Naruto and Sakura.

“Hey. We should find our seats.” Just as she said that a tall man with facial scars appeared in front of the class and bellowed, “The chunin exams have begun. Your first test starts now, take your seats!

* * *

Sasuke had no issues cheating. She had no worries about Sakura or Naruto’s skills in that department either.

Her only worry was that Naruto’s ethics would prevent him from doing so. _I don’t think he’s realized that this is part of the test, that we have to showcase our skills. Come on Naruto, you got this!_

Two rows ahead of her, as though feeling her thoughts or at the very least her pointed stares, Naruto hunched his shoulders and buried his head in his hands.

_I can’t do this, Hinata’s offer to let me cheat was so tempting but I turned her down, what was I thinking?!_

Naruto groaned. _I have to hope for the best with the last exam question._

“Times up. Now I’ll call for the final question.”

All of team 7 looked up at Ibiki. This was it.

“If you choose not to answer, you fail. If you answer and get it wrong, you and your team will never be able to take the exam again. If you’d like to leave, raise your hand now.”

Kiba jumped up out of his seat. “What kind of rule is that? That’s so unfair.”

Ibiki just laughed. “You can skip it, your three teammates fail with you, but you all have the chance to advance next year.”

“Now. If anyone want to skip it, raise your hand now.”

Sakura steeled her nerves, she believed in herself but... was it worth it to potentially fail here? She looked over at Naruto’s shaking form. She started to raise her hand.

Sasuke, three rows to her left and two rows behind her, glared intently at her. _Dammit Sakura, you have to believe in us._

To her surprise, she noticed that Naruto had also started to raise his hand. _Him too? Don’t they have faith in us?_ She clenched her hands tightly.

Suddenly, Naruto slammed his hand down. “I’m not gonna bail now, believe it!”

Sasuke smirked, _I’m sorry for doubting._

Sakura smiled softly. _Let’s see how this goes._

“Everyone left here, passes.”

Sasuke realized she was holding in a deep, deep breath. She slowly exhaled.

_Thank you, Naruto._


	8. Chapter 8

Sasuke looked at the chain link fence that wrapped around further than her eyes could see. She briefly wondered about the  usefulness of a fence that was shorter than the trees that were hundreds of meters tall.

A crow cawed in the distance and was promptly silenced.

Whatever it was meant to keep in, it was doing a great job.

_This is the Forest of Death huh? It’s really creepy._

She looked down at the waiver in her hand. 

_Anything goes. I’m worried about those shinobi from Suna. Keeping a low profile for 5 days, staying on watch constantly, finding food, and finding a matching scroll isn’t going to be too hard. If this is what it takes to get stronger, then let’s get started._

She signed her name on the bottom line of the waiver.

_5 days. We can make it._

Sasuke glanced over at Naruto. He was talking with Hinata. When he turned to walk away he tripped on a rock.

_Probably._

“Alright everyone, we’ll start handing out scrolls. When you hear your team called, come over with your signed waivers.” Anko announced. 

Sakura went to find her teammates.

If she ignored the sinking feeling of dread, this was a little bit exciting.

“Are you guys ready?” She asked when they were all gathered.

“Believe it! Bring it on loser shinobi! We’ll take you out like it’s nothing!” Naruto punched the air in front of him. 

He did believe that, but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little bit worried. 

“This is nothing compared to a real-life mission like the Land of Waves.” Sasuke smirked. 

“So, has anyone come up with a plan?” She asked.

They were given an advantage knowing the parameters of the survival exam. They could calculate who to target, when, where to hide out, surely Sakura had already thought of something. 

Sakura and Naruto stared back blankly. 

“Well, we find the earth scroll that matches our heaven scroll and then we make our way to the tower.” Naruto stated simply.

Sasuke felt her eye twitch.  _That’s so… simple._

“Well, I can agree with that. My only stipulation is that we run away immediately if we see the three genin from Suna.”

Sasuke still felt uneasy around them, particularly that Gaara. He hadn’t caused a commotion during the first part of the exam but that was no guarantee that everything else would go fine. 

“I agree.” Sakura said.

Naruto crossed his arms in deliberation. “Me too.” He didn’t want to seem lame, but there were some people you just didn’t mess with. 

Sakura added in another stipulation, “I also don’t want us to target any of our old classmates. If the opportunity arises we can go for it but I don’t want to make them our main targets.”

She was thinking about Ino in particular. Their rivalry didn’t trump their friendship and Sakura was convinced not to damage that just to get ahead. 

Sasuke nodded. She had been about to suggest that Ino’s team seemed to be the weakest and therefore should be their first group to target, but she quickly stifled her comment.

“Also, I’ve been thinking we should have a password. Listen up, I won’t repeat it.” Sasuke leaned in close to her teammates and said the phrase. 

They heard Anko’s voice cry out, “The second stage of the exam has begun!”

Team 7 raced into the forest.

* * *

“Repeat the password Naruto. We have to verify our identities after being separated.” Sasuke held her kunai out and pointed it directly at him. 

She was panting slightly, her adrenaline starting to kick in. They had only been in the forest a few hours and already they had encountered enemy shinobi. 

A tiny centipede dropped onto her shoulder. She stiffened and quickly tossed it deep into the forest. 

Sakura nodded in agreement, still slightly shook up from the explosion of wind that initially separated them. She was worried that their plan was indeed, too simple.

They should have found a hiding spot or something, to be targeted twice within the span of only a few hours was  _not_ how she imagined this going. 

Naruto opened his mouth, “A shinobi waits to strike-“ Sasuke threw her kunai at him. He dodged it easily, his eyes widened in shock. 

“Where’s the real Naruto. Don’t lie to me,  _our_ Naruto would never remember the password I set. You’re a fake.” Sasuke activated her sharingan and got into a fighting stance.

Naruto looked momentarily surprised. 

"Well. It’s no use hiding it now.” The fake Naruto shed his disguise and morphed into the tall kunoichi from the hidden grass village.

“I suppose you want this.” The kunoichi twirled her hand and removed an earth scroll from her lapel. “I saw that you have a heaven scroll. One of us is going to leave here with a complete set, how fun.” She smiled widely, her eyes cold as ice.

Sasuke and Sakura were hit with a blast of blood lust, falling to their knees.

Their deaths flashed before their eyes, each gory detail seared into their minds.

Sasuke momentarily thought that she was caught in a genjutsu but her sharingan didn’t detect anything. It was pure, unadulterated bloodlust. 

It took her breath away, she felt her mouth gape open. Shakily she turned her head to face Sakura. She was frozen in her spot.

_Dammit. She’s not going to be able to help right now. I have to move, I have to do something!_

Sasuke reached down to her weapons pouch and grabbed a fistful of shuriken. Slowly and shakily she stood up and brought her hands out in front of her.

“How interesting, but what will you do now?”

The kunoichi seemed genuinely curious. Sasuke felt like a mouse caught between the paws of a bored cat.

She cursed. She had put so much effort into standing up she didn’t know how she would be able to attack. Her arms felt like lead. 

“I’ll make it quick, I promise.” The kunoichi moved towards them. With one quick motion she threw two kunai straight towards the girls. With her sharingan she watched in agonizing detail as her death loomed closer and closer. 

_Move._

_Move._

_MOVE._

With all the will she had, Sasuke stabbed deep into her thigh, and moved.

She grabbed Sakura and ran, fast.

“Hm. My prey certainly is clever.”

* * *

_It had been a desperate move, albeit one that had worked. Now I have to compensate for an injured leg._

Sasuke leaned back against the thick trunk of nearby tree.

Her breathing hadn’t slowed down, and her rapid heartbeat was pumping the blood quickly through her body. 

She was silently grateful for her black pants shielding her from the sight of the severity of her injury.

Sakura quickly rummaged around in her pack, searching for the gauze she packed.

“What was that? What is she? I saw our deaths!” Sakura paused her rummaging and stifled a cry with her hand.

She was completely out of her league here. No amount of textbook studying or tagging along on missions while others did the fighting had prepared her for this. 

“I don’t. I don’t know.” Sasuke grunted as Sakura wrapped her thigh tightly with bright white gauze. Gauze that was quickly starting to have a pink tinge to it. 

Sasuke reassured herself that even in her moment of panic she wouldn’t be stupid enough to stab an artery. It was just the situation and the urgency of the moment that was making her pump blood faster than normal. 

She repeated that to herself a few more times. 

“She’s still around. We have to move on or else she’ll kill us.”

As she said that, Sakura yanked her back from the trunk of the tree and onto a branch nearby, climbing higher and higher.

Sasuke heard the thud of the snake’s large body clumsily collide with where they had just been resting.

The snake’s body melted away until the kunoichi was standing there, her legs still in snake form. A deranged glaze in her eyes made Sasuke shudder.

“Oh yes. This is very fun.” She slithered towards them faster than anything Sasuke had seen. 

_Is this it? Is this where we die? I don’t have any will power left! Sakura! Please move faster._

A small tear leaked out of her eye.

A barrage of shuriken rained down, just barely missing the kunoichi. She stopped her slithering.

“Naruto! You’re here!” Sakura yelled out ecstatically. 

_Naruto!_ Sasuke never thought she’d be this happy to see the annoying orange boy. 

He looked over to the girls, his eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what you did to my teammates, but I won’t forgive you. You’re going down!” 

Sasuke wanted to shout out at him to run away, to save himself but the scared childlike part of her wanted him to swoop in and be their savior for the day. 

“Oh? Another interference. I’ll let my pet take care of you.”

She bit down on her thumb and summoned a giant brown snake.

Its body busted through the lower thicket of branches and shrubs and moved through the thick forest with ease. 

It locked in on its target.

“Naruto! Watch out, she can control those snakes.” Sakura warned her teammate. 

Naruto dodged left and right, up and down, to stay out of the way of the giant snake but his moves were too slow. He was knocked down and thrashed around.  _His body looks like a toy getting smacked around by one of the cats in Sora-ku._ Sasuke shuddered. He wouldn’t make it. 

Then she felt a familiar red chakra start to spill out of Naruto. 

_That’s the demon fox inside him, it’s leaking out!_

He jumped out from the path of the snake and leapt into the air, punching down with all his might on the head of the snake. A resounding  _crack_ was heard throughout the area. Another punch down split the head of the snake wide open.

The kunoichi licked her lips. “The demon fox lives? What a lucky day for me.” She laughed a low cackle and jumped straight at Naruto, making an unfamiliar string of hand signs. “Five pronged sealing jutsu!” She yelled as purple chakra exploded out of her fist and into Naruto’s stomach. 

The red chakra surrounding him disappeared. 

His body dropped and sank through the air.

“Naruto!” Sakura threw a kunai at him, pinning his shirt to the tree behind him and stopping his rapid descent. 

The kunoichi descended towards her targets.

Sasuke pushed herself out Sakura’s hold and limped into an offensive stance. 

_This has to end. Whoever she is, she’s clearly no genin. Naruto couldn’t defeat her with the power of the demon fox._

“Hey.” She pulled out her scroll and tossed it over to her. “Just take this and leave us alone.”

It was her last ditch effort.

The kunoichi just laughed as she caught the scroll and burned it to a crisp in her hands.

“We’re far past that.” 

She reached towards Sasuke and narrowly missed her target. Sasuke gracefully danced around the kunoichi, avoiding her attacks. Her sharingan spun wildly and Sasuke felt her eyes straining to keep up her opponent’s movements.

She side stepped another attack and sent a barrage of fire balls at the kunoichi, who walked away unscathed if not a little melted.

“Mastery of the sharingan at such an age, you are a true Uchiha. There’s no doubt you’re his sister, if anything your eyes are shaping up to be keener than Itachi’s. How delectable.” The kunoichi’s voice started switching halfway through her sentence from a light lilting tone to a low whispering voice of a man. 

“Who are you and what do you want?” Sasuke spat out at them.

“I’m Orochimaru. What I want is unimportant to discuss at this moment.” They licked their lips. “We can discuss that at our next meeting.” With a sickeningly sweet smile the shinobi’s neck extended and raced towards Sasuke, biting her neck.

She screamed in pain, liquid fire coursing through her veins. Her world turned black as Sakura’s scream rang out behind her.

* * *

Across the village, Kakashi had been summoned into a meeting. He would never admit it, but he was silently tracking the hours since his genin entered the forest of death. It was coming up on 14 hours. His heart skipped a beat when he had first been summoned, fearing the worst.

If it was an announcement of death or severe injury of one or all of his students, he didn’t think that so many other people would be here. 

It was a small comfort. 

There wouldn’t be so many high-level shinobi gathered if something much worse wasn’t occurring. 

He looked around the room, noting the presence of the masked ANBU members, the Hokage, and the village elders.

_What is going on?_

Anko burst through the doors.

Her eyes were dark as she spat out, “Orochimaru is back. He’s targeted another child.”

Her stern words sent a cold shiver through the spines of all the members present in the room.

Lord Third nodded slowly and somberly. “Have we determined which one?”

Anko growled out, “Uchiha Sasuke.”

Kakashi was silent.

* * *

Sasuke woke up to a strange sight.

Sakura’s body was beaten badly, her hair had been cut. For some reason Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji were there too, along with Rock Lee. They were cut, bruised, and panting heavy. 

Kunai and shuriken were strewn across the ground in front of her. The smell of sweat, blood, and fresh dirt infiltrated her nose.

She was utterly confused. And enraged. She heard Orochimaru’s voice in her ears,  _reach out and take this power._

She felt a warmth encompass the left half of her body.

Ahead of her a shinobi from the sound village had tufts of pink hair in his hands. Before fully comprehending her actions, she raced forward and grabbed his arms, bending them back with enough force to snap them. 

His howl of pain did nothing to sway her. 

She heard a collective gasp from her classmates.

“Drop your scroll and leave with your teammate. If you’re still here in the next 5 seconds I will snap his neck.” 

The kunoichi dumped her pack out leaving the scroll and an assortment of weapons on the ground.

“Okay, we’re leaving. Just leave him alone!”

She rushed over to pick him up and scurried away.

Sakura flew to her side. “Please, you’re scaring me. You’re scaring all of us.” She enveloped her in a hug and buried her face into her neck. Whispering she said, “Please. Come back. This isn’t you.” 

Sasuke felt the trickle of tears fall onto her flesh and onto a painful wound on her neck. She flinched back. The warmth left her body and the anger left with it. 

“What did I do.” She grabbed onto Sakura and held onto her, holding back tears of her own.

Naruto shot up like a crazed man from his spot on the ground. His unconscious state ending. 

“Hey! What did I miss?”

* * *

After a while, the other leaf genin had left. Sasuke chose to ignore their strange looks and thankfully no one tried to talk to her. 

Sasuke wouldn’t talk about what had happened with the sound shinobi and Sakura didn’t press it. She also made Sakura swear that she would keep what had happened a secret from Naruto. The strange bite on her neck included. 

Upon reassessing their situation, Sasuke and Sakura decided that all things considered, they weren’t entirely bad off. 

“We have one scroll, so we’re back to square one. That’s better than where we were when I passed out. All we need is the heaven scroll and we’re good to go.” Sasuke rubbed her cheeks trying to think. 

She focused on the sounds of the stream trickling behind her.  _I just need to_ **_focus_ ** _for a while, my mind’s all over the place._

Naruto snapped a twig to form kindling for the fire.

Sasuke suppressed a bout of nausea from bubbling up as she remembered the snap of the sound shinobi’s arms and the anger that gleefully grew as she inflicted violence. 

“We haven’t sensed anyone else’s presence the last three days. We are running out of time!” Naruto huffed.

“We can’t think about that. There still have to be teams out there with scrolls.” Sakura whined.

The pair continued to squabble. 

Sasuke tuned them out. She put her hand on her neck and felt the chakra of that  _Orochimaru_ leak out.

She felt violated.

She felt weak.

She hated the feel of foreign chakra in her body, and she hated that somehow that man knew Itachi and seemingly had fought with him and  _lived._

She hated that she was tempted by this power lurking beneath her skin. 

God was she tempted.

“I’m going to go get some fish for us further down the stream. I’ll be back.” 

She didn’t wait for a response.

When Sasuke arrived back at camp, fish in tow, she was displeased. 

Sitting around the blazing fire was the silver-haired genin from the first exam. Sasuke scowled.

“What is he doing here?”

“Sasuke! This is Kabuto. He’s a leaf genin. He got separated from his team. He has a heaven scroll! He said he’ll give it to us if we let him hang around with us until the exam is over.” Naruto looked excitedly over at her.

“Really, I’m not playing any tricks I swear. I just figured there’s safety in numbers and there are some scary competitors out there.” His smile was fake, Sasuke could clearly see that. Sakura and Naruto, however, were enthralled. 

Sasuke struggled internally. She didn’t know this man, but her subconscious was telling her to stay away from him. 

Sakura and Naruto didn’t seem to mind him being there, and they did need his scroll.

“Okay. I don’t like it but it’s only another day. If we have his scroll, we can start heading to the tower now.”

“I understand your concern. Let’s cook up that lovely fish you brought back, and we can head out. Sound good?” Kabuto asked Sasuke a smiling lighting up his face but not quite reaching his eyes. 

“I suppose that’s fine.” 

She set the fish in front of the fire and kept her eyes trained on their new companion. 

“If we move deeper into the forest, we can find a hideout close to the tower. We won’t be able to stay with Kabuto until time runs out, but we can at least stay with him a few more hours.” Sasuke stated. 

“That’s a fair assessment. I won’t keep you from reaching the tower in time.” He nodded. 

“Sasuke! Don’t be so suspicious, he’s from Konoha!” Sakura elbowed her and whispered roughly in her ear.

Sasuke felt like pulling her hair out.  _Have we not been getting attacked this entire time by strangers? Leaf shinobi or not we don’t have any reason to trust him. Sakura, what is going on in your mind?_

Sasuke felt that she was getting angry, so she excused herself for a walk. 

She tried to focus on the sun and the warmth after being in the dark of the forest for the past few days. Being out here kept them exposed but it was worth the extra risk to get her mental state reset. 

Sasuke spent her time away from the group looking up at the clouds and meditating. When she felt composed, she went back to camp. A cold piece of fish was waiting on her plate.

“Eat up. Then we can leave.” Naruto told her. Turning to Kabuto he whispered loudly, “Yeah don’t mind her. She’s always this rude.”

That stung, but Sasuke supposed it was true.

* * *

They made it to the tower with 5 hours to spare, but that was cutting it close enough for team 7. 

They said farewell to Kabuto and walked into the tower.

After combining their two scrolls a proud Iruka sensei popped out.

"Congratulations! You've passed the survival portion of the test." He noted their bandaged bodies and dark circles underneath their eyes. "Mostly unharmed too."

He ushered them into the main room to mingle with the other contestants while the time ran down. 

Sakura ran off to join Ino, the two girls joining hands and jumping up and down in joy. 

Naruto followed her, talking and bragging about his exploits with Shikamaru and Kiba.

Sasuke found a spot to sit by herself and rest against the wall.

She looked around and gauged the remaining competitors. The rookie nine, none of whom she was concerned with, the Suna shinobi, Rock Lee and his team, and surprisingly the sound shinobi, with their teammate and his arms in two slings.

_18 left huh? This exam really took a lot of competitors out._   
  
Sasuke was starting to feel isolated. Her teammates were already slighting her because she had a bad attitude towards a complete stranger. 

_The only thing they knew about him was that he was from the leaf_ . She scowled.  _That doesn't mean anything and they're choosing him over me, now I'm sitting here alone._

She knew that her emotions were a wreck right now. 

She knew that she had chosen to sit here alone instead of join her teammates.

She knew that ruminating on negative thoughts would only lead to a new depressive episode, something she had avoided carefully since Granny cat had pulled her out of one all those years ago.

Her encounter with Orochimaru had left her shaken. His knowledge of Itachi had brought her goal to the forefront of her mind. It was all confusing.   
  
"Now why are you sulking over here alone?" A familiar voice asked from above.

Sasuke didn't attempt to stop the frown that her face contorted into.   
  
"Hn." Was her reply. 

“Kabuto?! What are you doing here?” Naruto shouted and waved at him from across the waiting room. 

“By sheer luck I reunited with my teammates and made it here just before the exam finished.” He said as Naruto and Sakura bounded over.

Sasuke highly doubted that the event played out like he said, but she kept her mouth shut. 

“Wow that’s lucky! And doubly lucky that they had enough scrolls to make up for you giving us yours.” Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically. 

Sakura, despite liking Kabuto, was also starting to develop some misgivings about his friendliness.

Just then Anko appeared to make an announcement. “Everyone, get in line! The second exams are over.”

The jonin-sensei of the remaining genin were lined up behind her. 

The 21 shinobi lined up in their squads and awaited further instructions. Lord Third opened the doors to the main room and slowly made his way across the floor to stand before the examinees. 

“Congratulations on making it this far.” He started, his voice booming with authority. “Part of the point of these exams are to select shinobi to become chunin, undoubtedly. However, it is also a chance for you young shinobi to fight for the pride of your nation. At the third exam many important rulers and merchants will be spectators. How you perform there will impact which nations get picked for missions and if you as individuals get picked for missions. So, make sure that you are putting everything you have on the line.”

Anko nodded approvingly. A new jonin stepped forward, coughing as he walked. “My name is Gekko Hayate. I will be the proctor for the third exams. There are 21 of you genin left, we will have to whittle your numbers down before the final exam. Starting immediately, we will be pitting you in one-on-one fights. Opponents will be randomly assigned, and you win when your opponent is dead or unable to continue. Understood?”

A deathly silence fell over the genin. 

He continued. “If any of you want to drop out now, speak up and you will be let out.”

A murmur made its way through the teams. Sakura glanced at Sasuke’s neck but a stern glare from Sasuke promptly made her forget her plans of revealing what happened in the forest. 

Kabuto raised his hand. “I made it further than I have the previous years. I’m proud of that, but I don’t want to risk my life going further.”

Sasuke found that suspicious, but was glad he was leaving. 

Hayate continued, “Well, we have an even 20 competitors left. I’ll pull up the first two competitors and we can get started.”

A screen was lowered down from the ceiling at the opposite end of the main room. After a few seconds of computing two names appeared. 

Uchiha Sasuke versus Tsurugi Misumi.

* * *

The fight was over before it began. Sasuke could see that. She just had to make sure he didn’t figure that out before it was over. 

Misumi’s arms and legs wrapped around her like string. 

“Whoa, what’s up with that guy’s body that’s so freaky! Come on Sasuke, don’t lose to a weirdo like that!”

_I don’t plan to._ Sasuke activated her sharingan,  _He kind of moves like Orochimaru when he was slithering around in the kunoichi’s form._

She lifted her arms up with a powerful thrust and dropped out of his hold, simultaneously she stomped down on his foot, shattering his toe bones. 

_Okay, I’m free. Now I have to take him down._

She shot out a barrage of Phoenix flower jutsu, peppering his body. While he was distracted by that she threw shuriken at him, a smattering of shuriken stuck out of his side. He flinched in pain.  _There it is, an opening._

She ran up to him and grabbed his neck, tossing him to the ground. He was out like a light. 

It was over, and she hadn’t even needed to rely on Orochimaru’s power. 

She jumped up to the spectator ring. 

“Way to go Sasuke, you kicked his butt!” Naruto grabbed onto her and pulled her into a big hug. 

She stiffened momentarily before melting into it. It felt good to be hugged.

Sakura came up behind her and wrapped her in a hug too. 

“I hate to break up this precious sight, but Sasuke may I have a word with you?” Kakashi peered over at his students.

“Sure.” 

He grabbed onto her shoulder and they flickered away to a dark room. 

“Where are we?” She glanced around, the moist, cold air sending shivers through her. 

“I heard about what happened with Orochimaru. There’s a lot I need to tell you about him, but first, let’s seal that curse mark.”

“Curse mark?” That was a new term to her. 

“Ah. That’s what it’s called, the mark on your neck. You aren’t the first person he’s marked.” 

Kakashi felt a sour feeling in his stomach. Orochimaru certainly had no qualms about picking out the strong kunoichi from their village. Anko and now Sasuke. He didn’t want to think about how many others there were. Not to mention Tenzo. It took a sick individual to target children.

He cleared his throat and looked away quickly. “First, I need you to uh, take your shirt off.” 

She paused for a second before quietly responding, “Okay.” 

She lifted her shirt up, thankful that Sakura had rebound her chest after she had woken up from the after effect of the curse mark. 

She wasn’t particularly modest but it wasn’t comfortable for her to bare her body to people. After that man bit her neck, she felt more protective of her privacy and her body. 

Kakashi bit his thumb and started marking over her body in strange characters with his blood. He moved from her chest, to her legs, to the floor, spanning out in a wide circle around her. 

“Okay, this might hurt a little.” He warned. 

“Hn.”

His hands moved rapidly, “Seal!” 

Sasuke screamed and the world went black.

* * *

She woke up a few days later. 

An exhausted Kakashi was sitting cross legged in a chair by the window. He raised his head from his copy of  _Make out Paradise._ “Yo.”

Sasuke realized where she was. Once again, she had wound up in a hospital. This time, a familiar face was there to greet her. 

“How did the preliminaries go?” She croaked, coughing to clear her throat. 

"Your teammates both fought valiantly. Naruto advanced against Choji and Sakura lost out to Tenten one of Guy's students." He sighed.  _Guy certainly hadn't let that go._ It had almost cheered him up, but the weight of Lee's injuries hung like a storm cloud over his head.   
  
He passed her a piece of paper. “Here are the results of all the fights. The final exam will be a round robin tournament. There’s a chance any of these remaining competitors will be your opponent.”

Yoroi Akado vs Kankuro: Kankuro Wins

Sakura Haruno vs Tenten: Tenten Wins

Temari vs Kin Tsuchi: Temari Wins

Shikamaru Nara vs Dosu Kinuta: Shikamaru Wins

Zaku Abumi vs Shino Aburame: Shino Wins

Ino Yamanaka vs Kiba Inuzuka: Kiba Wins

Naruto Uzumaki vs Choji Akimichi : Naruto Wins

Hinata Hyuuga vs Neji Hyuuga: Neji Wins

Gaara vs Rock Lee: Gaara Wins

”All three of the competitors from Suna made it through? That’s interesting.” She eyed the piece of paper intently, wondering who her first opponent would be. 

“I'm sure Naruto would be more than willing to give you every nitty gritty detail, however I don't think you'll be seeing him for a while."   
  
Sasuke's heart dropped onto her stomach. "Oh? Why is that?"   
  
"I've arranged for him to train with another jonin Ebisu, so that he can master the basics. Meanwhile, I have plans for you.” He uncrossed his legs and sat up straight in the chair. 

“In 27 days, you will be fighting against Gaara of the sand. There is no guarantee Hayate will be able to stop him from killing you if you flounder. I'm going to train you harder than you've ever trained before. We'll make sure that you come out of this in one piece. " He looked at her seriously, willing the gravity of the situation into her.    
  
"That's fine. When do we leave?" Sasuke examined his face, taking careful note of the bag underneath his visible eye and the slight greasy sheen to his hair.   
  
"You'll be able to leave the hospital today. Pack your bags and we can leave immediately. "   
  
"Are you sure you can handle that? You look rough." Sasuke was never afraid to be blunt.   
  
Kakashi chuckled. "I've been through much worse than staying on hospital guard duty. I'll be fine. Nothing a quick shower can't fix at least."

He did not bother telling her about the attempted kidnapping she had quietly endured from Kabuto or his subsequent attack on her life when things went sour. He didn’t tell her about Orochimaru’s plan to lure her away from the village either.

_That’s a conversation for another time. Maybe the forced interaction during training will give me an opening to have that particular discussion._   


He also didn’t mention, to himself or Sasuke, that the only reason she was still here was because Orochimaru left of his own will. He didn’t admit that there was nothing he would have been able to do had Orochimaru actually engaged him in a fight. 

  
Sasuke nodded at his words. He was a jonin after all, sitting by her bedside wasn’t exactly an A rank mission.   
  
"Okay. I'll head home now then. We can meet up in an hour, I'll be packed and ready to go." Sasuke moved to get up from her cot.   
  
"Sasuke. Wait. Let me get a nurse." He got up from his chair and wandered out into the hallway. 

She was alone. 

She shifted beneath her sheets and moved to leave the bed. A rustl e  following her movements made her stop. She lifted up the sheets and held back a shriek. 

Coiled between her knees was a small black snake. It locked eyes with her and spat out a scroll before poofing away. 

Tentatively she opened it up. 

_I told you we would have to discuss what I wanted at a later meeting. However, it seems that you are quite hard to get alone. I’m very sad you didn’t use my gift during the preliminary fight, of course it’s not like you needed it against such a weak opponent. I wonder if the same can be said for Gaara? You’re always welcome to use my power. Good luck._

She frowned, pushing the note into her sock before anyone could read it. 

A moment later an angry looking nurse rushed into the room with Kakashi trailing behind her. 

“It’s still very  _very_ early to release her, but if you promise to take it easy the next couple of weeks, I can let her go home. Keyword being  **home** Kakashi. Understand? I don’t want to hear about any training going on.” The nurse stared him down, putting her hands on her hips.

“She’ll go straight home. Scouts honor.” Kakashi grinned and held up two fingers in salute. 

The nurse turned to face Sasuke and check her vitals, behind her back Kakashi winked at Sasuke. 

She rolled her eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Orochimaru has finally made an appearance. 
> 
> I thought about writing the preliminary fights while Sasuke was out of the picture, since some of the matches were different that the anime, but decided against it. 
> 
> The important parts are that Gaara still destroyed Rock Lee's body and Neji almost killed Hinata.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter focuses on Kakashi and Sasuke during their month long training. Naruto continues his normal arc of meeting Pervy Sage and starting to become his student.

Kakashi hoisted himself over the edge of the cliff and dropped his pack off to the side. He faced his young companion, who had just herself made it up the side of the cliff.

“Let’s not waste any more time. I should’ve started training you as soon as we got back from the Land of Waves. The _second_ you awakened your sharingan I should have started training you.” He shook his head.

 _That wouldn’t have stopped Orochimaru, try not to have too many regrets Kakashi._ He chided himself.

“It wasn’t during my fight with Haku that I activated my sharingan.” Sasuke interrupted his thoughts.

“That night.” She stopped talking. “That night when everything happened.” She clenched her fists. _Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Spit it out._ “I had first activated my sharingan that night.”

He remained expressionless.

That was a surprise, but he supposed it shouldn’t have been. What was surprising is the fact that she was able to keep it a secret this long.

“I’ve practiced a few times in secret, I’m better than when I first started.” Sasuke continued.

“I see.” He rubbed his chin and moved his hands up to his cheeks, then back down.

“Well. We aren’t as bad off as I initially thought. This is good, it will make learning the Chidori easier. But first, we work on training your eyes to see and respond to what’s going on around them.”

In a flash, he began.

He rained a barrage of needles down on her. In high definition Sasuke saw each and every needle fly towards her. She moved out of their way, careful to avoid every jab. This continued on, with Kakashi doubling the amount of needles until she couldn’t avoid them and got jabbed in her forearm, an even, neat row signaling her failure.

“What happened? Were you not able to see them or were you not able to avoid them in time?” Kakashi asked.

Sasuke replied in between pants, “I couldn’t move to avoid them.” Her legs were shaky. “I saw them fine.”

Kakashi nodded. “Then let’s work on your taijutsu.”

They sparred. Sasuke got knocked down again, and again, and again.

As the sun began to set, Sasuke got knocked down again. This time she couldn’t get up. She laid on the ground, chest heaving.

“Come on. Stand up. If you don’t get up now I won’t hold back tomorrow.”

“Kakashi. I can’t.”

“You will.” He walked over and kicked her in the ribs. It was lacking the true force he was capable of, but still stung.

A black ring started to form in her eyes. _Shit. Get up!_

Sasuke rolled onto her side and shakily got to her knees, paused, and then pushed herself up, standing in front of him.

“Good. Beyond physical strength you need a strong will. Not only for mastery of the sharingan but for suppressing the curse mark.” He looked at her and saw her quaking legs.

“That’s enough for one day. Let’s take a break. I’ll get a fire started.” He bent down and rolled out a scroll, summoning a pile of logs.

He got to work starting the fire and preparing dinner.

Sasuke looked down at her sweat soaked clothes. _This is going to be a long 26 days._

“There’s a river down a few kilometers, you can wash yourself there.” Kakashi stated, sensing her thoughts.

Sasuke looked down past the edge of the cliff they were on, then at her wobbly legs. “I might have to wait a while on that one.”

* * *

The days continued, Sasuke felt her muscles tear and repair themselves night after night. She felt her chakra reserves grow stronger. Her body was slowly becoming able to keep up with the ability of her eyes. It was progress, that she was sure of.

Kakashi tested her chakra nature, it was lightning just like his.

“This is excellent Sasuke. I had thought that you and I might share a chakra nature. I have a jutsu, Chidori, that I want to teach you.” He looked thoughtful beneath his mask.

The morning was spent learning this Chidori, Sasuke could see how to replicate it easily with her sharingan, but her chakra reserves weren’t able to handle much more than one.

“We can build that up. With all the taijutsu practice we’ve been doing, you should be able to handle two or even three before the final exam.” Kakashi encouraged her.

That night, they sat down to eat, content in the silence.

Sasuke cleared her throat. “Kakashi. When you got your eye from Kanako’s grandson, did anyone tell you about the Naka shrine?”

He looked surprised. “I know that the Naka shrine was home of the Uchiha clan’s patron deity. Is there something else?”

Sasuke chewed her food thoughtfully. “Have you awakened your Mangekyo sharingan?”

He looked uncomfortable. “Yes. I have. Why?”

“Did you know what you were doing? Or did it just happen?” Sasuke kept inquiring, ignoring his question.

“It just happened. What is this about the Naka shrine?”

“When I first awakened my sharingan, Itachi told me about a stone tablet beneath the Naka shrine. There’s a message written on it that you can only read with your sharingan activated. It talks about how you can use the sharingan to control tailed beasts and how to activate the Mangekyo sharingan, among other things.” She set her plate of food down.

“What did you do to awaken your Mangekyo sharingan?” She asked.

He rubbed his hands together. “I’m not answering that.”

Sasuke wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Was it something painful?”

“Sasuke. I already told you I’m not answering that.”

“Itachi killed Shisui to get his.”

Kakashi froze.

This was a conversation he wanted to avoid.

“It was labelled a suicide.” Sasuke continued, “Itachi told me that he killed Shisui for power, to awaken his Mangekyo.”

Sasuke picked at a hangnail, her heart beating.

“The Naka shrine says that you need to witness the death of someone close to you in order for it to activate.”

Kakashi muttered, “It really is a cursed eye.”

He gazed up at the stars.

“You want to know about my Mangekyo? Well, it certainly was painful. It was one painful event in a long string of pain in my life.”

The sounds of grasshoppers filled the silence between his words.

“All of these things that happened to me just served to throw me further into darkness. Each loss I faced in life chipped away at me, bit by bit until I couldn’t feel anything anymore. It was a lonely, dark, meaningless existence. I pray that you don’t ever have to face that darkness in life.” He gazed at the fire, lost in thought.

Sasuke nodded along.

“I was in the darkness too, once. I didn’t have purpose. So, I gave myself a goal, to kill Itachi. That kept me alive, but I felt like a dead person walking around barely existing on this plane with everyone else.”

She took a shaky breath. _Could he finally be someone who could understand my pain?_

“Then, Granny cat gave me a purpose. I had something to look forward to every weekend. I wasn’t quite at my lowest by that point, but I was still pretty bad off. Taking care of something other than myself was good for me. Now I have people to live for, people who would miss me if I disappeared, and I feel myself standing somewhere in between the light and the dark.”

Kakashi tilted his head at her across the fire. Sasuke continued.

“I am struggling with revenge. I feel myself getting stronger, but I keep getting beat down by all these other people. I didn’t even stand a fighting chance against Orochimaru. But…when we were in the Forest of Death, I used the curse mark to take down an opponent. He was strong, he had defeated Sakura and Rock Lee, and I just destroyed him in an instant. I can’t deny that the curse mark gives me power.”

She flexed and unflexed her hands, her eye caught the glimmer of a scar. It was a distant memory of a time she smashed a mirror in anger, she let the pain of that moment come to the surface and wash over her.

“That curse mark is a bane. Don’t become reliant on it. Orochimaru is a monster, whatever he is offering you will come at a price.” Kakashi spat out with venom.

“Why is he so bad?” Sasuke truly was curious.

Kakashi took a deep breath in. “He once was a leaf shinobi. A student of the Lord Third. A lot of things happened but it was discovered that he was experimenting on children and he was expelled from the village. Lord Third and a group of ANBU members tried to kill him, but he escaped.” Kakashi got lost in thought. He failed to mention that he was part of that ANBU squad and that he neglected to kill him them.

 _I’m partly responsible for your pain now._ But he couldn’t say that.

“Don’t trust him or his promise of power.” He warned.

“It would bring me a lot closer to my goal.”

“Vengeance shouldn’t come at any cost. Let it go. Forget about revenge.”

“I can’t.“ _I’m stupid. No one could ever understand my pain._ Sasuke bit down, grinding her teeth.

She heard Kakashi scoff. “I’ve met a lot of people who think like you. It’s not uncommon in this career. Trust me, for those who follow the path of revenge, it never ends well. You only tear yourself apart in the end. Even if you succeed, all you’ll have left is nothing. Emptiness. Focus on the people who care about you now.”

“How can you say that? There’s no justice if I don’t avenge my clan. Itachi doesn’t _deserve_ to keep living everyday when my family is dead in the ground. It’s what they would want me to do.” Her words dripped with venom.

“The dead don’t have aspirations Sasuke. Whatever goal you think they want you to have, is in your head.”

“Shut up.” _Kakashi knows nothing._

They stopped their conversation. Kakashi finished his meal and doused the fire. They both got into their sleeping bags and settled in for a fitful night of sleep.

* * *

The next day passed with no words spoken between them. Kakashi excused himself for part of the day. Sasuke practiced with the Chidori, pushing her chakra reserves to the limit. She was able to create two successfully. The third she could always get started but it fizzled out before she could strike.

She was happy that Kakashi left. The tension from the previous night’s conversation was still very much palpable.

She found that she missed her teammates. They would be able to share her frustration at Kakashi’s overbearing nature, or at least Naruto would.

She had hoped that this year she would be able to discretely hang out with Naruto and maybe Sakura, who she was still feeling very hot and cold with, and have a cup of tea. She would have even settled for a bowl of ramen if that’s what Naruto wanted.

Today was her birthday. Not that she had plans of telling anyone.

The last few birthdays from age nine up had been spent alone.

She felt the tears well up in her eyes.

_I finally had people to celebrate with and now I’m stuck here with stupid Kakashi._

She sighed and wiped her eyes.

 _At the very least I can treat myself to a nice bath in a cold river while Kakashi is away._ She rolled her eyes.

She didn’t expect luxury, or even see a point to it, but sometimes she liked to bathe in an onsen. Or at least a shower. She didn’t think that was too much to ask.

Eventually Kakashi returned.

“I didn’t mean to be gone so long. I had some errands to run.”

“Hn.”

He set his packages down among the rest of his belongings.

He started another fire.

“I picked up some beef from the market. It might be nice to eat something other than fish.” He chuckled lightly.

“Hn.”

Kakashi stifled his sigh and continued to tend to the fire.

He remained quiet all throughout making and eating their meal. Sasuke was content with that, she made no move to engage with him.

“If I’m not mistaken, today is July 23rd.” He stared across the fire at her. She didn’t lift her head to meet his stare.

“Could be.” She muttered.

He nodded his head. “And, if I’m not mistaken again, that’s your birthday. You’re what, thirteen? Officially a teenager.” He chuckled softly.

She met his eyes. “Could be.” She deadpanned at him.

He inhaled deeply.

“Sasuke. I apologize. I shouldn’t have said all of that about your… goal. I know it’s not my business, but I’ve seen too many people get swept up in the path of vengeance. I do care about you. That isn’t a path I want you to take. Especially with a man like Orochimaru.” He spoke with sincerity. Sasuke hated that.

“I don’t forgive you. If you’ve lost people like you’ve said I can’t understand how you wouldn’t want to avenge their deaths.” She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

He sighed. “If there was someone to blame, I’m sure I would. They were unfortunate victims of war, or their own failure, or the demon fox attack. Not having someone to place that hatred, that utter sadness onto tears you apart. I lashed out for years, allowing myself to fall into a dark pit. Truth be told, I’m only now starting to feel like I’m able to climb out of that pit. That’s because I surrounded myself with people to care about again. It feels a lot better than holding onto that anger.” His voice grew progressively softer and he became lost in thought.

Sasuke watched him drift away in thought. She knew that he meant what he said, both times.

“Kakashi. I care about you too.” She unwrapped her arms and straightened out her legs. “That doesn’t mean that I agree with you.”

She swore that there was a hint of smile beneath that mask.

“Well, we can agree to disagree. For now.”

She hummed in agreement.

The silence passed between them comfortably.

“Oh yeah. I almost forgot. Being that it’s your birthday I thought that you would like a treat. I know that you typically don’t enjoy sweet things, but I wasn’t sure what else to get.” He got up from his spot around the fire and walked back to his belongings. He pulled out a small pink box and brought it over to her.

She opened it up and took out a small vanilla cupcake with pink frosting.

It had been years since anyone had gotten her anything for her birthday.

Her vision blurred. _Were these tears?_ She blinked a few times.

“Thanks.”

He walked back and laid down on the opposite side of the fire, pulled out his book and started to read.

* * *

On August 5th, Kakashi told her it was time to leave.

“Your match with Gaara will be starting any minute now. If I know them like I’m sure I do, they’ll hold off on calling it a forfeit. Too many people want to see Suna’s strongest genin and the last Uchiha fight it out.” He smiled at her, his eye crinkling.

“Don’t forget what I taught you here.”

Sasuke felt a thrill run through her. If the people wanted a show, they’d get a show.


	10. Chapter 10

Genma was starting to worry. He knew Kakashi was persistently late, but to extend it this far? The crowd was starting to get antsy. Well, maybe not starting, they were in full-fledged disapproval. They were shouting now.

He checked his watch. _Only 30 seconds left. If you mess this up Kakashi…_

Suddenly, there they were.

Arriving in style, a whirlwind of leaves and panache.

Genma could have rolled his eyes.

Naruto’s voice pierced through the crowd. “Finally, you’re here! I thought you were going to forfeit you scaredy cat!”

Sasuke did roll her eyes.

* * *

Sasuke was faster than Gaara was expecting. She smirked, building up to her true speed. His sand flashed in front of her, but she was only gauging its speed. She squatted down, her thighs rock solid, the training with Kakashi wasn’t for nothing.

He was used to operating on the defense, Kakashi had told her everything about his fight with Rock Lee.

It was hard to ignore his ramblings. She couldn’t tune out his words, talking about tasting her blood.

Still, now wasn’t the time to be distracted. She kicked him in the stomach, cracking his sand armor. She ducked to avoid a spear of sand directed at her face.

Moving around him she searched for another opportunity to hit.

_There, he left his right side unguarded._

She punched, adding chakra to her fist. His sand armor crumbled.

Screeching he reached out towards her.

She couldn’t avoid his sand completely. Her neck was cut, just mere centimeters above her jugular.

_That was too close._

He called his sand back and surrounded himself in an orb. He started chanting.

_This can’t be good; I have to end it before he finishes whatever powerup he’s harnessing right now._

She ran up the wall of the coliseum. Dropping down she utilized the extra gravity and moved as fast as she could. She started building up the chakra in her arms feeling the electricity flow through her. She raced towards the sand orb and pierced straight through it.

For a second, nothing happened.

Then his screaming started.

Sasuke felt the cold run straight through spine.

She went to pull her arm out, but the sand wouldn’t let her go. _Shit._

She felt the sand wrap around her fingers. _Move. Now!_

She created another Chidori and felt the sand blast away. She pulled her arm back and jumped backwards. A giant racoon’s arms followed her and fell to the ground.

_What is going on here?_

A bomb erupted in the Hokage’s box.

Chaos erupted.

* * *

Sasuke hated being interrupted.

First her fight with Gaara was put on hold. Now as she was chasing him down, his sister tried stopping her.

A gust of wind came straight at her. Grinding her teeth together, Sasuke shot a fireball back towards her. It dissipated in the wind.

She wasn’t near the level of opponent Gaara had been, but she was desperate, and that desperation made her fight ferociously.

Sasuke pulled out shuriken and threw them at Temari.

One grazed her cheek. Sasuke threw another three shuriken in an arch. All three hit her target in separate spots.

A blade of wind destroyed Sasuke’s hiding spot.

She jumped to another tree and pushed off it, headed straight at Temari.

She swung her knee up and knocked the girl square in the face. She fell backwards, blood dripping out her nose.

She fell to the ground in a thump.

If the blow to the face didn’t knock her out, the fall surely did.

Sasuke moved on. _Only two targets left._

* * *

Shino’s appearance was a welcomed surprise. Sasuke breezed past Kankuro and his puppet and left it in her comrade’s hands.

Gaara was close. She could sense his vast, evil chakra.

She _wasn’t_ expecting to see him transformed like this. He was half racoon, half boy. Giant limbs pushed out of his body his eyes intense.

Sasuke rushed towards him, throwing shuriken at him. He easily swatted them away.

It was no worry to her; she didn’t think that would actually work.

She jumped up against the trunk of a nearby tree and propelled herself at him. She activated her Chidori for the third time that day. This was her limit, but she needed to end it before Gaara transformed fully.

She struck him in the shoulder, she aimed for the heart but turned away at the last minute.

His giant racoon arm sliced off, falling to the ground.

Instead of blood gushing out as she had expected, sand crumbled away.

_A clone?_

A force struck her from behind. She fell to the ground, coughing up blood. A giant hand picked her up like a toy and thrashed her on the ground. She nearly lost consciousness.

She felt the curse mark start to leak out of the seal. She panicked and attempted to suppress it. Orochimaru’s voice whispered to her. _Use it, take my power and cut him down. If you don’t he’ll kill you._

She realized he was right.

She let the power overtake her. The heat of the mark flowed through her, revitalizing her.

She ran up to Gaara, dodging his attacks. A swift kick to the face was followed up with a barrage of fireball jutsu released in quick succession. He was momentarily stunned.

Sasuke attempted a fourth Chidori. It flared up in a stream of electricity. This time she would not pull away from his heart.

As she was inches away, Gaara shifted his body and a spike of hardened sand struck her arm, puncturing through her forearm. Her Chidori flickered away.

She realized with increasing panic that not even the curse mark would be able to give her enough power to create another Chidori. No other attack had enough power to make a dent in his hard sand armor. She braced for an assault.

To her surprise, no such assault happened.

“Get away from her!” Naruto’s loud angry voice rang out. He rushed in, thousands of him, to punch and disappear as a clone was taken out.

One of these clones whisked Sasuke away and put her on a high branch far away.

“Naruto! How did you find us?” She asked incredulously.

Sakura and a small brown dog came to join them. “Ah. Pakkun. I see.”

“You two stay here. I’ve got it.”

Sasuke very much doubted that.

The thousands of clones had all been swatted away.

Naruto dove back in, his body getting battered around yet he was still landing hits.

An aggravated Gaara howled and his neck fell down with a whoosh.

Sasuke doubted that it was over.

A rumble emanated from his body. The remaining human half of him disappeared, replaced by a wide beige face that kept growing and growing.

Before Sasuke and Sakura and Naruto, and even a hiding Pakkun, emerged a giant racoon. The chakra feeling oddly like Naruto’s demon fox.

A giant claw came out and held Sakura and Sasuke in place on their respective trees. The grip tightened. Sakura let out a gurgle.

Sasuke knew that if she didn’t break free now she would be crushed. She willed the curse mark to take over her whole body. An additional Chidori was activated, she cut through the hand holding her captive like butter.

Her body shook, she was pushing it.

Sasuke kept her Chidori roaring and sliced through the hand holding Sakura in place.

Naruto jumped back and started forming his hand seals. He pushed down on the ground. “Summoning jutsu!”

A giant toad appeared in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke watched in awe as Naruto fought against Gaara, or whatever he turned into. Blows were matched, and the earth rumbled.

_When did he get so strong?_

She saw his tiny form, so far away, jump off the toad and onto Gaara. His fist dropped down against the small remaining part of his human form.

The crisis would be averted.

_And why am I jealous?_

* * *

Sasuke told herself she wasn't avoiding Naruto. 

That was a lie though. 

She barely said a word to him at the Third Hokage's funeral, not that that was a time to socialize really. 

She decided one day that it was enough. She just had to force herself to see him and prove that she wasn't upset with him. Because really, what kind of person would she be if she got upset at the fact that he took out a powerful enemy she would've been destroyed by?

She searched the back of her mind to when she walked home with Naruto all those months ago. She crinkled her nose remembering the rundown complex he lived in. 

Her feet led her down the road to him.

Apprehensively she knocked on his door. 

"Ehh? Who's here?" She heard the patter of his feet race to the door. 

"Sasuke! Why are you here?" He blushed. "N-not that I'm complaining I just wasn't expecting it." He glanced down at his body, suddenly aware he was in a ratty old pair of boxers and a stained t-shirt. 

"Ohmygosh wait right here!" He slammed the door shut and grabbed his orange pants, rapidly pulling them on. He whipped off his shirt and grabbed a semi clean sweater pulling it over his head before racing back to his front door. 

"Sorry about that. Please, come in." He ushered her in. 

Sasuke sat down at a table in the center of his small living room. 

Naruto sat at the chair next to her and looked at her with wide eyes. "I've never had a girl here before."

Sasuke stopped herself from rolling her eyes, reminding herself that she was here to be nice. 

"Well, are you going to offer me something to drink or snack on?"

"Oh. is that what you're supposed to do? Ummm. I have instant ramen? and water?" 

Sasuke blinked. _Is he really this hopeless?_

"Do you have tea?" 

"Heh. no, i don't like it. too bitter." "Do you want to go out for ramen?" He asked her.

"That's okay. I just came over for a visit. I'll take some water though." 

He sat looking at her. "Oh, I'm supposed to get that for you right?" He scurried over to sink and grabbed a glass from the cupboard. He filled it up and brought it over to her. 

She ignored the questionable smudges on the outside of the glass.

"So, what do you want to do? I have cards, a t.v., a gaming system, I could turn on the radio, ummm." He paused, scratching his head thinking. 

"We can just talk. If you want to turn the radio on for background music that's fine."

"Sure. Gimme a sec." He turned on his radio and turned on a rock station. _I wouldn't expect that from him, he's so happy he seemed like a pop person._

"Let me know if you want to listen to something else."

"No, this is fine."

She paused for a bit. "So, that toad you summoned was really something else."

"Yeah, that's Chief Gamabunta. I'm basically his master." He leaned back in his chair cockily.

"Did you learn that from Ebisu? Kakashi told me he sent you to train with him." Sasuke asked him.

"Pft. no way. that guy's so lame. He a closet pervert by the way. You and Sakura should avoid him." He looked seriously at her.

"Hn. Thanks for the heads up." Sasuke cracked a smile. _He is sweet._

"I met a super cool sage, but he's even pervier than Ebisu. He's the one that taught me how to do that. I think he's gonna train me even more! Maybe he can teach you some cool trick. But It seems like Kakashi is actually teaching you something." He rolled his eyes at saying that.

Sasuke defensively said back, "Well, we have the same chakra nature. I had a tough opponent to fight against if you were in trouble he wou-"

"Whoa, calm down. I still like the guy, but so far all I've learned is how to work as a team and climb a tree."

"I guess you're right."

They continued talking, the music carrying on in the background. 

Sasuke felt airy talking to Naruto. 

"I have to admit, I was a little bit jealous seeing you take Gaara down. I tried really hard and couldn't do anything meaningful against him." She looked down at her hands feeling stupid. 

"No way. I was so jealous of you! That Chidori was amazing, seriously. Everyone in the stadium gasped when you broke it out. Sakura's jaw was basically on the floor. Even Kakashi looked smug."

Sasuke smiled. "Thanks. I know it's stupid, but I like hearing that." 

He smiled brightly at her. "It's not stupid, everyone needs encouragement. I kinda liked hearing you say you were jealous of me. But you know, I could only summon something that big because I used the nine-tails chakra."

Sasuke felt her heart race. Her mouth started forming the words before she could stop herself. "I actually used a... power-up of sorts too. Even with it I couldn't stop Gaara."

"A power-up? Something Kakashi taught you?" He cocked his head to the side.

"Not really. Do you remember that kunoichi that attacked us in the forest?"

"Yeah. how could I forget." 

"That was Orochimaru in disguise."

His eyes narrowed. "Orochimaru huh."

She swallowed a hard lump in her throat. "He bit me." Her hand wander up to her neck. "Apparently he has done that before. It's something called a curse mark. Every time I use it I get extra power from him."

"Stop using it! That guy is a freak! He killed the Hokage, he's a monster!" Naruto shouted, slamming his hands on the table. 

"Don't worry, I haven't used it much! Just when I need it!"

"Don't use it at all! Who knows what else it's doing to you!"

"I'm being careful!"

"Obviously not if you're using it at all."

"Shut up! You don't get it! I need to use it!" She whipped her glass of water at the wall.

"What the hell Sasuke?" 

"I need it to kill Itachi!" She fell to the ground, crying. _Damn it, why are you so weak?_

Naruto was silent for a minute, letting her compose herself. 

"Itachi? That's your brother, right? The one you didn't want to talk about." He knelt down next to her and put his hand on her back. 

"I know I’m not the greatest at listening, but I can try if you want to tell me about him."

  
To her surprise, she did feel like telling him. 

She explained everything, how she loved Itachi, how she loved Shisui, how she loved her parents. How quickly that all went away. How she lived alone until Granny cat took an interest in her. 

How she needed to kill Itachi in order to make things right.

How no one here was supporting her goal in that area.

Naruto sat and thought.

The radio blared in the background. 

Sasuke calmed her erratic breathing and waited for Naruto to say something, anything.

"Okay." He finally started. His eyes burned with conviction. 

"I’ll help you kill Itachi." 

* * *

Sasuke left Naruto’s apartment feeling lighter than she had in quite some months. _If no one else here is going to help me, at least Naruto will._

She begrudgingly admitted that Naruto had been excelling in leaps and bounds. 

Sasuke had always taken pride in the fact that _not only_ was she top of the kunoichi class, a feat incredible in and of itself, but the _entire_ graduating academy class. Her sensei were amazed, they couldn't think of a time when a girl had done that well.

Now to see Naruto quickly catch up to her- no, she had to be honest- he was on trajectory to surpass her, was making Sasuke uncomfortable. 

Sasuke shook her head in the darkness and continued walking down the road, her path barely illuminated by the lampposts. She couldn’t fixate on that. Gaara had been taken down by Naruto, sure. She had still taken down Temari, she fought against Orochimaru longer than Naruto had been able to, she was able to land a few blows on Gaara even. 

_Focus on your accomplishments_ She mentally told herself.

Besides, she had to focus on the positives. She now had a powerful ally to take down Itachi. She had made it abundantly clear to Naruto though that the killing blow would be hers.

He understood. 

Sasuke wasn’t sure why, but the glimmer of darkness she saw in Naruto put her on edge. Not that she had any right to comment on it. She was certain that other people were well aware of that in her. He was just always so...cheerful. 

Sasuke made a mental note to ask about Naruto and his parents, she knew he was an orphan but what had caused him to live alone in a junky apartment? If Lord Third was also supplying him with living expenses why were their situations so different? Clearly his parents had to be noteworthy people or else Naruto would have ended up in the civilian’s orphanage. 

She also made a mental note to tell him this pact absolutely stayed between them and only them. Kakashi wouldn’t understand, or ever let them leave to track him down. 

She felt a tingle at the back of her neck. She quickly whipped around and grabbed the person standing behind her, twisting their arm behind their back.

"Sakura?" She asked in surprise. "Are you following me?"

"No! I swear! I just saw you walking alone and thought we should walk together. It’s late out already. " She shivered as a gust of wind blew past her. 

"Oh." That’s a fair point. The village had just been attacked, there was a chance lingering enemies might be around or even civilians from Konoha could be looking to cause trouble amidst the confusion and rebuilding process. 

Despite everything, Sasuke still wasn't sure what to feel about Sakura.

They had been on missions together successfully and Sakura _had_ saved her during their fight in the forest with Orochimaru. 

Well, that probably meant she deserved the truth too then. First Naruto now Sakura. Sasuke felt she was getting too emotional lately.

Now how would she initiate the conversation?

To her good fortune, Sakura initiated first.

“Sasuke? Are you alright? You're quiet in a different type of way than normal.”

“I've been thinking a lot about the past recently. And how it impacts me now.” She put her hands in her pockets and stared at the moon, ceasing her walking.

"For the longest time I felt betrayed by you. And Ino. I was left all alone and no one came to help me. I'm warming up to you now but, I can’t change the way I felt or how that impacts us today. My friends weren't there when I needed them the most. Now I have to rely on you with my life. I don't know how to feel about that.”

Sakura's face contorted into anger and then sadness. 

“Sasuke, how could I possibly know what to say to that? I was a child. Even now, what can I say? I'm sorry. I didn’t want to leave you, but you became so cold and so distant. I tried, truly I did but I don’t know how to get close to you. You closed yourself off from _everyone_. Ino and I both tried but you turned us down every time. Not even the sensei could get through to you.”

She took a deep breath.

  
“I wish I could help you; I do. I have no idea what you went through. I can't understand it. I want you to know that even if I cannot understand your pain, I’m here for you. I was your friend then; I want to be your friend now. If that’s not possible, then at least acknowledge me as your teammate.” She started crying.

Sasuke felt like she should feel some level of guilt. She knew that Sakura was right, it was impossible to expect a child to know how to treat her in those early days. And Sasuke hadn’t exactly reached out to her old friends either. But she simply felt vindicated.

Watching Sakura cry and hearing her guilt felt right somehow. Sasuke knew _that_ wasn't healthy. 

An image of her mother staring sternly at her with her hands firmly placed on her hips popped into Sasuke's mind. 

_Grow up Sasuke._ She yelled at herself in her mother’s voice. 

She took a deep breath in and sighed. 

"It’s unfair to expect all that from you. You're right. I know I'm being unreasonable." 

Sasuke thought for a moment. "I'd like to try again. Maybe you and I can hang out alone one of these days?"

"I'd like that." Sakura beamed at her, wiping the tears away.

Sasuke let a bemused smile cross her face. 

They arrived at Sakura's door. "Would you like to come in? Or spend the night? I have spare pajamas you can borrow!" Sakura looked excitedly at her. 

"We should do that one day. I'm meeting Kakashi tomorrow to talk about the chunin exams and practice the Chidori more, but maybe this weekend?" 

"Let's plan on it." Sakura smiled widely. She slyly grinned before adding, "teacher's pet." She giggled and ran into her house.

Sasuke chuckled softly to herself. 

* * *

The next morning Sasuke rolled out of bed and left her house at a quarter to nine. She was excited to get in more practice with the Chidori and was curious about what his news concerning the exams would be about. 

She strolled along leisurely knowing that she'd have some time to herself before Kakashi arrived. They were meeting at a dango shop.

She might stop and have some tea and dango before he arrived.

However, as she turned the street corner to arrive at their meeting spot she was taken aback by a familiar sight. 

"Kakashi! You're here on time? That’s unexpected." She exclaimed in surprise. 

He was talking with Asuma and Kurenai.

He smiled at her warmly behind his mask. "Sorry Sasuke, something has come up. Why don't you take the day off?" 

That was frustrating, but with the village having been attacked many of the jonin were extra busy during this time.

"Hn. Okay." She sighed deeply and walked away.

She left to see if Naruto was free.

When she knocked on his door, and old man with long white hair answered the door. 

She got into a defensive stance. "Who are you? Where's Naruto?"

He laughed a great loud booming laugh. "Well aren't you cute? What are you, his little girlfriend?" He leaned against the door frame and sized her up. 

Naruto yelled from inside his apartment. "Pervy Sage don't be embarrassing! Leave her alone!" He ran to the front of his apartment, his face red. 

"Sasuke! What are you doing here?" He had a bulging backpack strapped to his back.

"Oh. Are you going somewhere?" 

"Yeah I’m leaving with Pervy Sage to go track down the next Hokage."

The old man interjected. "Don't call me that, it's Master Jiraiya." He smacked the boy on his head. 

"Oh. How long will you be gone?" She was a little disappointed, but she would just have to spend time solo training or renewing her friendship with Sakura.

"It could be a while. We have to track Tsunade, she's a sneaky one." Jiraiya said.

Naruto shrugged. "I'll keep you updated. If it goes on for terribly long I’ll write you a letter."

Sasuke supposed that would work but she would miss her friend. 

They said their farewells and Sasuke wandered back to her apartment. 

She sat down to read one of the books Kakashi had given to her. It was about strategy. In the margins he had written comments and suggestions. 

She used her sharingan to retain the battle formations and closed the tattered old book. 

Well, even if Kakashi was busy she could drop the book off at his house. 

She couldn't for the life of her understand why Kakashi had an apartment and a house but he would frequently bounce between the two places. 

He had invited her inside once before to show her his extensive library and hand her a stack of books and manuals. 

_He was going turn her into a jonin in no time_ he had joked. 

In order to get back to his house she had to walk past his apartment complex. 

She saw Guy rush in the front door. Huh. Maybe Kakashi was done with whatever he had to do that morning. 

She walked into the complex and found his suite. She went to knock and found the door unlocked. Suspicious, she let herself in. Around his bed was Kurenai, Asuma, and Guy. 

Laying asleep was Kakashi. It was weird to say the least.

"What's going on? Why are you all here watching Kakashi sleep?"

The three remained silent. Guy unconvincingly said, "oh... nothing "

Rushing up the stairs was a nervous chunin from the Hokage's office.

"Is it true? Is Itachi back and looking for Naruto?" He shouted into the room before catching a look at the Uchiha fan plastered on the back on Sasuke's shirt.

The three jonin glared at him. It was almost comical.

Sasuke saw red, her sharingan reflexively activating. She raced out of the room. 

_Damn it! Why is he coming after Naruto?_

She felt an inexplicable sense of jealousy mixed in with her jealousy. She knew that wasn't the appropriate response. Her friend was in danger. _Itachi was more interested in **him** than her._

Most likely Itachi wanted to control the demon fox inside of Naruto with his sharingan. 

Sasuke wouldn’t let that happen.

She wracked her brain for the name of the town that Naruto and Jiraiya said they were heading to first. 

It was an outpost town....

Shukuba town! 

That was it!

Sasuke sped off praying she wouldn't be too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Naruto is always so strong willed. He would definitely be the type to take anything on recklessly to help a friend, even if that meant moving down the dark path of revenge.


	11. Chapter 11

Sasuke arrived in Shukuba town in a panic. 

She ran from inn to inn asking the front desk workers if they had seen a young blonde boy and an old man. 

Sasuke was trying desperately not to think about Kakashi, sleeping in his bed, his mind likely ravaged by Itachi.

She tried not to think about Naruto, and if she was too late to stop anything now. She silently prayed that this Jiraiya would be strong enough to keep Itachi away, but she didn't believe that was possible.

She arrived at an old inn near the center of town. She had her doubts that Naruto would be staying here. It was close to the red light district in town, and she doubted that his older companion would have chosen a spot normally reserved for single bachelors to take a child. Still, she couldn’t rule it out.

_If only I knew shadow clones like Naruto this would be so much easier._

She cursed her misfortune and resolved to learn that jutsu if Naruto made it out unscathed. 

She ran up to the front desk. "Sir, did a young dumb looking blonde boy check in today with an older bushy white-haired companion?" The attendant thought for a second.

"Yes actually. Should I call and let them know they have a visitor?"

"No! Just tell me what room they're in!"

"That's a breach of customer privacy I’m afraid. I don't see any additional guests listed on their check in form either, so I have to assume they weren't expecting you."

He looked down at a piece of paper he had taken out of his file cabinet. 

Sasuke snatched the paper away from him and scanned the content. 

_Room 203._

She flung the paper back at him and raced off. 

"Hey! I'm calling security!" He shouted at her back.

Sasuke didn't even hear him. She focused only on the stairs in front of her. She pounced up them to the second floor.

_201_

_202_

_203._

_There it is!_

She pounded her fist on the door, not stopping until an annoyed Naruto started yelling and ripped open the door.

When he saw who was there his eyes widened.

"Sasuke? What the hell?"

She pushed herself into the room and locked the door behind her.

"We have to leave, where's Jiraiya?"

She noticed he was alone in the room

Naruto scoffed. "That perv is out womanizing. I've been alone all day! This was supposed to be a training opportunity and all I-"

"Listen to me. We have to leave." Sasuke sharply cut him off. "Itachi is back and for some reason he is after you." Sasuke cursed under her breath.

Itachi would never stop targeting her precious people.

"Me? Why?"

"I don't know for sure and I don't want to find out. I'm guessing he is trying to get control of the nine tails demon inside you. The sharingan can take control of the tailed demons and manipulate them."

" _What?"_

"We have to get you out of here. If he isn't here yet, he will be soon. He left Konoha before me." She glanced at the door and then to the window. 

_We're wasting time._

"I’m not gonna run away and hide! If he wants me, he can try, but I'm gonna take him down!" Naruto clenched his fists. _This Itachi wants to use me for power, just like he used his family. I won't let him._

"Naruto. Please just leave. If we get caught by him, I know I won't be able to stop myself, I’ll attack him."

"Then I’ll help you!"

"What if he kills you?!" 

"I won’t let that happen!" 

They argued back and forth and almost missed the gentle knocking on the door.

They immediately stopped.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. She mouthed _run out the window._

Internally she hoped that he would open the door, she hoped Itachi would be there, she hoped she would _kill_ him.

Naruto shook his head and walked to the door. He slowly pulled it open and a pair of red eyes stared back at him.

_"_ Hello Naruto."

Sasuke pushed past Naruto and shoved Itachi out of the door frame. 

A tall blue man with shark gills smashed his giant bandaged sword down between them. Sasuke jumped back.

"Itachi, she has a sharingan just like you! This must be your baby sister. Heh. She's as easy on the eyes as you, pretty boy. What do you come from a family of models?" He joked to Itachi.

Sasuke hadn’t been aware she activated her sharingan.

She wasn't expecting Itachi to be teamed up with someone.

"What do you want with Naruto?" She spat out at Itachi, who had yet to take his eyes off of her.

_You’ve grown, Sasuke._

"That doesn't concern you." He raised his hand up and pointed at her. "Go back to Konoha before I kill you." 

Sasuke felt her legs freeze beneath her. Fear started rising in her. 

_His bloodlust is nothing like Orochimaru. I can't let myself get weak now._

She broke out of his genjutsu. "I’m not weak like I once was Itachi." 

Sasuke squatted down and propelled herself towards him.

He parried her plows with ease, sighing. "Kisame. I don't need to tell you this, but it will be over shortly. Don't interfere."

Kisame chuckled. "I make it a point not to interfere in family business." 

He leaned back on his sword. 

Naruto burst forward, aiming a flurry of punches at Itachi’s back.

"Naruto! Stay out if this!" Her eyes flashed dangerously at him _I’m the one that takes him down._

Naruto understood.

He scowled and watched as she got beat down again and again. _I have to do something!_

Itachi grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up against the wall. He squeezed tightly, stopping the air from entering her lungs.

“You don’t have enough hate to beat me. What have you been doing all this time? You are no challenge for me.” He turned her face towards Naruto.

“As long as you hang around with weaklings, you never will be.

He smirked before squeezing her throat even tighter. _Sasuke. You need to be strong to survive in this world. Keep trying, harder._

She aimed her knee up at his stomach, but it was caught by Itachi. He bent it towards the wall and smashed her knee against it.

She heard a crack and felt her leg go limp.

Naruto threw himself at Itachi but was quickly thrown off, crashing loudly through a plaster wall.

"Naruto!" A loud voice boomed down the hallway. 

The walls were covered in a gummy wet layer and Sasuke saw Jiraiya standing in the hallway. 

Itachi narrowed his eyes and dropped Sasuke. _Good, an excuse to leave here._

He activated his mangekyo sharingan and faced Sasuke. 

"You’re weak. What would father say?" _Hate me, Sasuke._

Sasuke was hit with his genjutsu and her world turned red.

* * *

Sasuke was caught in an eternal turmoil. She saw her family slaughtered over, and over, and over. She knew it was genjustu. There was little comfort brought in that. The tortures she was seeing were real. They were her clan's last moments. 

However, the more Sasuke relived these hellish moments the more she got desensitized to the images. 

It wasn't that they _didn't_ make her angry, or sad, or any other number of emotions, it was that she knew what was coming next. Whose body would fall where, whose scream would ring out in agony as they were disemboweled. After some time, she was able to think critically. 

She had never met every single member of the Uchiha clan.

She was quite young at the time of the massacre and she had not started attending the routine clan meetings.

Still she noted that throughout the barrage of images, there were a few notable faces missing.

Izumi, who was friends once upon a time with Itachi, their younger cousin Izuna, and the neighbor down the road Itsuki and his family's deaths were all missing. 

Sasuke counted the deaths that she saw.

 _103_.

If she ever escaped from this hell, she swore she would cross reference every death she saw with the dead in the Uchiha graveyard. 

What it would mean if those numbers didn't match up, Sasuke wasn't sure. She knew she had to check though. 

She walked through the slaughter in a haze. She couldn’t tell how long she had been here.

Her feet moved on their own, moving along from Itachi’s will.

To her surprise Sasuke remembered Itachi’s words to her as he was beating her senseless. "What would father say?"

She found she didn't care what a dead man would or wouldn't say about her. 

* * *

As Sasuke was moving through this gory scene - _Is this my life now? -_ She heard a woman's voice. 

"Sasuke. Wake up and follow my voice. I'm here to bring you back."

She didn't see anyone, but this voice was a new development. She decided to follow the sound back to its source. 

She strayed off the path Itachi had set her on. 

As she got closer to the sound a warmth encompassed her.

She blinked and took in a deep breath. She blinked again.

She was no longer watching the Uchiha massacre, she was in a hospital bed.

Gazing down around her was a woman with two blond pigtails.

"Who are you?" Is what Sasuke intended to say. What came out was "whrmwhrng?" 

The blonde woman patted her head and said, "Rest up."

She stood up from her bedside and took a short black-haired woman with her. Sakura and Naruto shot into her room as the blonde lady was leaving.

"Thank you, Lady Tsunade!" Sakura bowed deeply.

_That name sounds familiar._ Sasuke thought, but she couldn’t place where.

Her teammates wrapped Sasuke in a big hug. Sasuke felt tears escaping from the corners of Sakura's eyes.

She was in a daze. 

She still couldn't talk, so instead she let her head fall back on her pillow and slept.

She woke up a few hours later. Sakura was at her bedside peeling an apple. 

"You're awake! Here, eat this." She passed her an apple slice.

"Naruto's around here somewhere. He went to check on Lee and Kakashi sensei. They're both feeling a little better."

Sasuke ate her apple slices and listened as Sakura rambled on, filling her in on the last _month_ and all the gossip she had missed. 

"So. That lady was the Hokage? She seems like quite a force." Sasuke pursed her lips together. "Quite busty too." 

Sakura giggled. "Yeah. You got that right. She’s really interested in revitalizing the medical corps here. I think I might apply. I haven't decided yet though." She scraped a piece of apple skin off her paring knife and tossed it in the trash.

"I'd have to pause being a member if team 7 though. I don’t know what would happen to you and Naruto if I did that though. " She looked down at her hands.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted at her. "Don't pause your life for us. If you want to be a medic you should. We'll manage if you leave, probably the genin teams will have to get shuffled anyways, considering Shikamaru became a chunin but his teammates didn't" Sasuke gave Sakura a tiny smile.

Sakura looked wistfully out the window. "I'll think about it, thank you for being understanding."

Naruto walked in at that moment, his arms full of chocolates, flowers, and get-well cards. 

"You're so lucky! So many people have been dropping off presents for you." He whined and shoved a bar of chocolate into his mouth. 

"Those are for me? Who sent them?" She asked.

"Secret admirers." Naruto wagged his eyebrows up and down. He dumped the presents on a chair in the corner and jumped up, sitting on the edge of her bed.

Sasuke scoffed. "Take as much of that as you want. I'm not a fan of sweets.”

Sakura stood up suddenly. “I’m going to do it. I won’t let me sike myself out. I want to try and become a medic!” She stormed off, determined to find her path in life.

“Whoa. What’s that about?” Naruto asked, the chocolate smudged in the corners of his mouth.

“Didn’t she tell you? Sakura is considering, well I guess now she _is_ joining the medic corps.” Sasuke informed him.

“Oh yeah, Granny Tsunade mentioned something about making a new generation of super awesome medical ninja. She’s _really_ into that.” Naruto stated.

“It means having to get a new third member for our team. She’ll have to pause her normal training and missions, for the most part.” Sasuke gauged his reaction, waiting for him to blow up.

“Oh. Well, that actually reminds me of something I wanted to tell you. Now that Sakura’s gone it’s probably a good time.” He looked her in the eyes and cleared his throat.

“I’m leaving the village with Jiraiya sensei.”

“What?” Sasuke felt her heart drop.

"Sasuke, I told you I'd help you with revenge and that’s not changing! Now that we've gone up against him, I know that I have to get much _much_ stronger. Pervy Sage said he could train me. He taught the fourth Hokage, I’d be crazy to say no to him! Besides, these people, the Akatsuki won’t stop coming after me. I have to do what it takes to get stronger.”

"So you're leaving me?" She whispered.

"Not forever! I'm sure we'll be back to visit the village. Plus, we aren’t leaving for a while anyways so we still have a few months! He has some missions to do for Granny Tsunade first.” He pleaded with her.

“Don’t be angry with me, please.”

Sasuke glared at him. “Whatever. Do what you want. I’m tired now, so you should leave.”

She flipped over on her side and didn’t acknowledge him as he left her room quietly.

_Am I so unlovable that Naruto and Sakura have to leave me?_

She felt like crying.

* * *

Sasuke left the hospital alone.

She had no more visitors, and her presents left behind were someone else’s problem to sweep up and toss out.

She walked along the streets as the sun began to set. She was feeling sorry for herself.

_A kunoichi should never wallow in self-pity, we endure._

Still, she allowed herself to wallow in her sadness and feelings of abandonment.

Sasuke decided to take the long way home that night, stopping at a convenience store to stock up on pistachios and cup ramen.

_It’s too late to cook an actual meal, this has nothing to do with Naruto._ She told herself.

She paid at the counter, grabbing a magazine before heading back on her way. The night sky had darkened, clouds were covering the moon and the early September weather was starting to feel chilly.

She felt someone following her, so she jumped up to the trees, intending to shake them off. Instead, she found herself surrounded.

“So, you’re Sasuke huh? I can’t figure out why Lord Orochimaru would want a weak little thing like you.” Four shinobi Sasuke distantly remembered from Orochimaru’s attack on the village during the chunin exams stood before her.

“What do you want. I’m in no mood for games.” She glared at them.

“Cut the tough act. We could kill you right now and it would be no sweat off our backs you damn brat.” The red-haired girl spat back.

“We’re here to escort you to the Sound village, to become Lord Orochimaru’s new vessel.” A two headed man said.

“Why would I agree to that? What does that even mean, ‘become a new vessel’?” Sasuke asked. She didn’t like how this conversation was going.

A large orange haired man responded. “Your being will be absorbed for Lord Orochimaru’s purposes and in exchange you will have power beyond your wildest imagination.”

_Absorbed?_

“Lord Orochimaru offers you power, with some stipulations. He said there’s no point in taking you by force, you have to come of your own will.” The girl responded.

Sasuke felt the curse mark activate, talking was over she had to get away from these people.

“Like hell I’m leaving with you.” She flipped backwards and took out a line of wire from her pockets. She threw it around her targets and pulled, snipping their bodies in half.

They transformed into logs.

“It won’t be that easy.” A spider looking man smirked.

Sasuke didn’t give up. She ran forward, punching and kicking as the two headed man took the brunt of her attacks. This was kept up until she felt her neck burn and pain coursed through her.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” The spider-man asked.

“That’s the power of the curse mark, it takes a little piece of you until there’s nothing left. Once it spreads through your body, your former self will disappear forever.” The large orange-haired man said.

“But Lord Orochimaru can teach you how to slow it down, control it, and with it you will achieve your goals.” The girl said. “What is your purpose? To stay hidden here, stagnant in your power? Have you forgotten about Itachi?”

Sasuke felt a surge of anger run through her. _Itachi._

She was alone in her attempt to take revenge since Naruto was leaving her. She knew that once he left, he would forget about her and his promise to her.

What they were saying, what they were offering… could she really do it?

Could she give everything, including her physical self, up for the sake of revenge?

“I see you’re thinking about it. If you decide to leave with us, meet us in the forest outside the east gates in an hour.”

Sasuke grabbed her groceries off the ground, tossed carelessly during her fight, and continued her walk home.

* * *

Sasuke dropped her groceries on the floor of her apartment. The curse mark still burned, but it was fading.

She looked at her face in the mirror. Bruises were already forming.

She thought about everything that had happened.

She could not defeat Orochimaru.

She could not defeat Gaara.

She could not defeat Itachi.

She was a failure.

If she didn’t leave with Orochimaru’s henchmen, she did fear that she would fail to ever take her revenge.

She was firmly set in her desire for revenge. She didn’t care what anyone else had to say. She wouldn’t be happy until _he_ was dead.

But…

Did she need to get revenge at any cost?

Even if Sakura and Naruto were leaving her to advance their own personal goals, could Sasuke leave _them_?

She didn’t understand how much she needed connection with others until she started making bonds with her teammates.

She thought of Naruto’s determined eyes as he stated he would help her win her revenge.

She thought of Sakura, silently peeling apples in her hospital room waiting day in and day out for her to wake up.

She thought of Naruto, dragging Lady Tsunade back to the village to heal her.

Besides, she still needed to cross examine all of the dead Uchiha with the dead in Itachi’s genjutsu.

She would stay.

Her nose started gushing blood.

_Maybe I should go back to the hospital._

* * *

Kakashi knew he was a wounded man.

Normal men didn't wake up in the middle of the night covered in sweat. Normal men didn't have to read porn in public to keep a veil of separation between them and the world. Normal men didn’t have to wash imaginary blood off themselves in the shower that belonged to their dead friends. 

  
He didn't know if the feelings he had towards his two broken students were normal.   
  
He cared for Sakura, he did. But every night she went home to her parents, where her mother would set down a home cooked meal and her dad would joke around, much to her chagrin.

He was glad she had that really, he was.   
  
The ferocity inside of him for Sasuke and Naruto was something he hadn’t felt even with his teammates.

He was responsible for these children; he was supposed to be strong and wise and he just felt like a failure.   
  
For all their loss, he would make sure they wouldn't have to lose any more.

Well, he would try his best. It seemed that lurking around every corner was some new villain ready to steal these children away.   
  
Naruto held enormous power within him. All things considered; he was surprised that was only the first attempt to capture him.   
  
He wasn't blind either. Sasuke would be beautiful. Stunningly gorgeous. Not that he was interested in minors. 

  
He wasn’t stupid though, plenty of others were. Especially vulnerable, underage girls, like the kind that lived alone and didn't have parents. 

  
Orochimaru certainly was a creep, but his interests lied in advancing his body for scientific gains. One small grace.   
  
The sharingan was a rare commodity. Girls with kekkai genkai were targeted even under normal circumstances, much less a situation as dire as Sasuke's. 

  
The Hyuuga girl had almost been snatched all those years ago.   
  


He shuddered in the cold autumn wind.

  
He was aware of all the ways he failed them already, unbeknownst to them.   
  
His failure to keep Kushina safe.  
His failure to protect Minato sensei.  
His failure to see the darkness in Itachi.   
  
Added to that were his ever-growing present-day failures. 

  
His failure to keep Sasuke safe from Orochimaru.  
His failure to keep Sasuke safe from Itachi.  
His failure to keep Naruto safe from Itachi.  
  
Sasuke was sulking. He had heard from Tsunade that Orochimaru's henchmen came back to goad her into leaving, resulting in her being beaten. Badly.

Another one of his failures. _Who leaves a child alone when a world class criminal has loudly announced his intent to steal away said child?_

  
He was proud she stayed.

Not that he could tell her. She was avoiding most everyone now.  
  
He sighed.

It was approximately dinner time maybe a surprise visit was in order.   
  
He stopped by the market on his way over and arrived outside Sasuke's door with bags in tow.

  
He knocked. There was no response, but he sensed her Chakra through the door.

  
 _Well, she might be in distress right now. As her sensei it would be irresponsible to leave before making sure she is okay._  
  
He took a pin out from his pack and shimmied it around the lock. The door swung open.   
  
She was standing in front of him with her arms crossed and her signature scowl and glare combination on display.

  
"Why are you trying to break into my house? I'm supposed to be resting."   
  
"Ah well, you can't rest without a nourishing meal to replenish you."

_I need you to know I’m on your side. Sasuke, I would do anything for you, you have to see that._  
  
"I'm not Naruto, I know how to take care of myself.” Still, she moved aside and let him inside her apartment.

“No matter who you are or how old you get, everyone needs some TLC now and then.” He chided, putting his groceries on her countertop.

“Now, where are your pans?”

Sasuke rummaged around some cupboards and brought out a variety of pots and pans and cooking utensils.

“See,” she pointed at her assortment of tools, “I’m not helpless.”

“I never claimed you were.” He smiled warmly.

He got to work, chopping and dicing, seasoning and frying, until their meal was done.

“I have to admit, I have another reason for coming tonight.” He slyly mentioned as Sasuke was mid-bite.

“Oh? What is that?” Sasuke was annoyed at her companion, more specifically at his refusal to take his mask off, his plate of food growing cold.

“The Lady Hokage has requested a meeting with you tomorrow morning. I wouldn’t be late if I were you.”

Sasuke glanced down at her plate, _it must be about Orochimaru._ She felt a sense of dread.

She glanced back up, startled when her eyes saw Kakashi’s empty plate.

“What!”

He simply chuckled.   
  
If nothing else, for a wounded man, he did a great job cooking.

* * *

“Lady Tsunade, you requested to see me?”

"I did. Let’s get right to it.” She stared straight at Sasuke locking eyes with her. _This lady is intense._ Sasuke thought.

“A representative speaking on behalf of the Feudal Lord's wife was very impressed by your performance during your fight and of course by your actions after. She has recommended your advancement despite the unusual circumstances.” 

Sasuke perked her eyebrows up in surprise, she had only heard about Shikamaru’s advancement.  
  


“She has also requested that upon your promotion, you join the squad assigned to protect the Feudal Lord on his birthday. She certainly seemed to take a liking to you. As if that wasn't enough, Shiranui Genma has also requested your promotion." 

Sasuke took the information in. Was she getting promoted? 

"Lady Tsunade, are you approving their requests?" Sasuke asked, apprehensive but hopeful. 

"Yes Sasuke, I’m approving your promotion to chunin." She smiled at her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke stayed, from here on out the timeline changes although I'm certain that some events will still happen. Orochimaru will still need a new body in three years, the Akatsuki will still come after Naruto but having Sasuke in the village will undoubtedly impact the future.


	12. Chapter 12

Sasuke felt like she was making the right choices, finally.

She shook off her temporary pity party that plagued her since leaving the hospital and went to see Naruto.

She waltzed over to his front door and knocked.

There was no response.

Puzzled, she waited a minute silently outside his door before knocking again.

She heard it creak open and a tired blue eye peered out at her.

“Sasuke?” A hoarse voice croaked.

“Naruto! What’s wrong? Are you sick?” She asked him worriedly.

“Heh. It seems like it. I think I ate some bad ramen.” He chuckled lowly.

Sasuke stood awkwardly outside his door. “Ah, if it’s a bad time I can come back later.”

Naruto remained quiet for a second. “No, please come in. I don’t think what I have is contagious.”

He opened the door fully and ushered her in.

He sat on his couch and slumped deeply into it.

His clothes were wrinkled, his hair was greasy, and frankly he was starting to smell. He stared listlessly at his guest, not entirely seeming to focus in on her.

Sasuke knew well enough that what Naruto was suffering from wasn’t bad ramen, but depression.

“Hey. Want to play cards or something?” She asked.

Naruto shrugged. “Maybe we can just watch t.v.?”

“Sure.”

She walked over to the small t.v. and turned it on, putting a game show on.

They watched silently for a while, laughing as contestants failed their hilarious challenges.

Naruto turned to face her. “Thanks for being here Sasuke.”

She smiled at him. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” They both knew that she was telling the truth.

They continued watching their program.

“So, what brought you over here?” He asked during a commercial break.

“Hmm? Oh, I wanted to see you. I’ve been avoiding people since meeting Orochimaru’s henchmen.”

“I’m glad you stayed.” He whispered quietly. “I was worried that after our talk at the hospital you’d feel abandoned and want to leave.”

“Naruto, I was being unreasonable. It’s really important that you do what you can to get stronger, your life is in danger.”

_We can’t stay weak if we want to defeat Itachi, and that organization he works for._

“Besides, it’s not like you won’t ever come back and we can write letters anytime.”

“Yeah! I just know Pervy Sage is going to be creeping around hitting on all the ladies, so I’ll have plenty of time to write letters when he abandons me.” He crossed his arms.

She smiled and added, “Plus, I was just promoted to chunin by Lady Tsunade.”

He shot up. “What?! Congratulations!”

“Thank you, thank you.” She fake bowed from her seat. “I have my first official mission in two weeks. Guard duty at the Feudal Lord’s birthday.” She rolled her eyes. “Essentially I’m just there to wear the Uchiha symbol and look exclusive for all the political big wigs. The other squad members will do the real heavy-duty stuff.” She frowned. _It wasn’t the most exciting first mission as a chunin but it was a step forward._

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short. That’s pretty cool stuff.” He told her sternly.

“Thanks. Looking important for our political leaders is always a good thing for Konoha’s budget.” She smirked.

She pulled at a loose thread on her sleeve.

“It really means a lot to me that you still put up with me even when my attitude is all over the place. I don’t mean to always shut you out and then try to act like everything’s normal.” She humbled herself, being vulnerable once again to this annoying orange ball of energy.

“Ehhhh? I would expect nothing less from you. It’s part of your irritating charm. Besides, if life goes too smoothly it ends up getting boring.” He grinned widely at her.

Sasuke chuckled. “You’re such a loser.”

* * *

Sasuke came home late that night. She almost missed the foreign presence hiding in the shadows of her living room. Almost.

She threw a kunai towards the presence and fought against the form that jumped out at her. She was wrestled to the ground, but Sasuke slipped between the legs of her attacker and attached some wire to her shuriken, whipping them forward.

The figure was caught, then disappeared in a pile of snakes.

_Orochimaru?!_

“Hey, you aren’t half bad kid.” A lady’s voice spoke out. The lights flickered on and Anko stood in the corner of the room.

“Are you working for Orochimaru? I won’t leave without putting up fight.” She started making hand signs.

“Cool it. I’m not working for that monster.” She pulled her shirt collar down revealing a familiar sight.

“You have the curse mark too?” Sasuke gasped loudly.

“Yeah, I was his first successful experiment using that technique. I also chose to stay in the village, or rather, he dumped me here when I wouldn’t cooperate further with him.” She stared off into space. “He was my sensei before he turned rogue.”

The silence lingered between them. Anko had an odd expression on her face Sasuke couldn’t quite place. It seemed almost wistful, sad, and angry all in one.

“So, why are you here?” Sasuke plainly asked.

“I’m officially taking over your training duties. Sakura has placed in the medical training program and Naruto is leaving to be trained by Master Jiraiya. You have officially been promoted to chunin and no longer need one-on-one instruction. Team 7 will be disbanded in short order.”

Sasuke felt a shock go through her. She knew her teammates were starting on their own paths but to hear it stated so matter of fact, made her sad.

“Kakashi isn’t capable of training you individually in this matter,” she gestured at the curse mark, “but I am. The problems that arise from using and suppressing its power can cause a great strain on your chakra.” Anko looked at Sasuke, staring straight in her eyes.

“Don’t get me misunderstood, I’m not here to baby you. I’m here to make sure that Orochimaru’s power doesn’t consume you and that if he comes back for you and tries to force you to be his new vessel you can fight back. If you’re lucky _maybe_ I’ll teach you a new jutsu.” Anko stared intensely at her, taking note of her tense posture.

“This won’t be easy. I’ll push you harder than you’ve been pushed yet. Kakashi’s training will seem like a walk in the park compared to what I have in store for you.” She glowered wickedly at Sasuke.

“Hn. I’m ready for whatever you’re going to throw at me.” Sasuke bit back. _This lady is crazy, who attacks a student in their home? I have to train with her? What’s wrong with Kakashi._ She pouted.

Anko cackled. “Heh! Look at that pouty face, I’ll beat the smug attitude right out of you. We’re getting started right away tomorrow morning. Meet me at training ground 12 at 6 a.m. sharp. I’m not like that lazy guy Kakashi if you’re even one second late I’ll make you regret it.”Anko cracked her knuckles for emphasis and licked her lips.

Sasuke resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the woman’s antics.

“I will meet you there tomorrow, at 6 a.m. promptly. Now please, leave my house.”

“Yeah, yeah kid don’t get all bent out of shape.” With that, Anko disappeared. _She’s going to be a feisty one. Well, that doesn’t bother me one bit._ Anko smirked to herself and ran off to grab an order of dumplings before returning home.

* * *

Sasuke awoke at 5 a.m. the next morning. She stretched her arms and rolled out of bed. Based on Anko’s attitude the night before, she figured it would be safe to assume that this time around she _should_ skip breakfast. Not as some type of trick, like Kakashi had planned, but because it was likely that she would vomit up her breakfast due to the strenuous work they would be doing.

She combed her hair and pulled it back in a tight ponytail. Her bangs were not quite long enough to fit in the band and so lightly fell forward framing her face. She paused for a moment and examined herself.

 _I really do look like my mother._ She closed her eyes and activated her sharingan, her three tomoe swirling. _I’m nothing like Itachi. Not anymore._

She packed a quick lunch of plain onigiri and filled her water bottle. It was the start of a new chapter for her and she intended to throw herself fully into it.

She arrived at training ground 12 at 5:55 a.m.

She started stretching, waiting for Anko to arrive.

She felt a tingle at the back of her neck and quickly stood up, narrowly avoiding three senbon aimed at her spine.

“Good morning. You’re quick. I like that.” Anko grinned at her, her white teeth shining in the darkness of the early morning.

“Hn. Is this how our ‘training’ is going to go? You attack me unannounced and I have to avoid you? You’re quite fond of that aren’t you.” Sasuke let a bit of sarcasm slip in her voice.

“Oh? Already getting sassy with me and it’s only day one? You’re lucky I hate Orochimaru more than I dislike you.” Anko put her hands on her hips.

“You might be too proud to realize it now, but my training is going to keep you alive. I guarantee that. Women like us are survivors, and you have the grit that I can work with. But you won’t get to treat me like your former sensei. He was so wrapped around your finger you got away with anything didn’t you?” She snorted.

“You will address me as Anko-sensei. You will follow my every command with no back talk. You will give me 100% each and every day. If I believe you are lacking in any capacity, I will not show mercy, and trust me you don’t want to figure out what that means.” She gave Sasuke an intense glare. “Now. Let’s get started.”

Sasuke grit her teeth together and spat out, “Yes Anko-sensei.”

There would times to push back against this woman, but day one was not the time.

“First we will spar. Begin!”

Sasuke jumped back, gaining distance between her and her opponent. She knew very little about her skills, just that she attacked her with senbon, could apparently summon snakes, and had very good aim.

Sasuke figured a long-distance attack would be a good first move. “Phoenix flower jutsu!” She spit out fire at Anko, who escaped unscathed.

“Please. You’ll have to try much harder in order to get close to me.”

Sasuke activated her sharingan, learning the erratic movements of her sensei. _She doesn’t seem to be moving in any particular pattern._

Sasuke threw shuriken at her, all easily dodged. Anko called out, “Fire release: Dragon Fire Technique!” A stream of fire was moving towards her face.

Sasuke dodged. She bounced around, setting up wires at specific locations while her sensei was blinded by the flash of her own fire.

Sasuke threw more shuriken at Anko and came back into her line of sight.

“Hidden shadow snake hands!” A stream of snakes came rushing out at Sasuke, twisting around her arms and pulling down towards the ground.

“Hng.” Sasuke squirmed around, trying to loosen the hold the snakes had on her. _Dammit! It’s no use that I have a trap set up if I can’t get my hands free._

She focused her chakra in her legs and jumped up. Some of the snakes were only hanging on loosely and fell to the ground. The remaining snakes just squeezed her tighter, wrapping around her torso. She took a deep breath and pushed her arms out sideways in one fluid release of energy, her muscles tearing in protest.

The snakes fell limply to the ground.

Sasuke rapidly formed her own hand signs. “Fire release: Dragon Fire Technique!” The same jutsu Anko had used. _I’ll show her how an Uchiha handles this jutsu._ She smirked as the fire ran along the wires she had set up, five lines of fire rapidly advancing towards Anko.

She took the full brunt of the attack.

When the smoke cleared, Anko was only slightly ashy, coughing into her elbow. “Well that’s annoying.”

Sasuke frowned.

At noon they took a break for lunch. Sasuke felt the sweat run down her forehead. She was entirely unsuccessful in their sparring. Even when her attacks hit Anko, she was able to absorb the brunt of her attacks or manage to come away with only marginal cuts and bruises.

She sat down in the shade of a large tree.

“Hey. I’m only going to say this once since you’re starting to seem discouraged.” Anko came over and leaned back against the tree trunk, crossing her arms.

“You’re doing really well. The fact that you can even touch me, a jonin, at your level is something to be proud of. As you train your body more and increase your chakra capacity, your jutsu will pack a lot more punch. If you were to try that Dragon Fire wire trick again in a year, I guarantee I would be burned and in the hospital.” Anko pulled out a pear and took a bite.

“That’s the last praise you’ll get out of me for a while. Now buck up and eat your lunch. We’ll go again in 15 minutes.” She left Sasuke to finish her lunch and rest.

Sasuke accepted the praise but still felt discouraged. _How am I so weak still?_

Orochimaru’s voice talked to her. _I’ll always be here to give you the power you crave. All you have to do is ask._

Sasuke bit her lip, drawing blood. _Shut up._ She willed the voice in her head. To her relief, that was all that she heard. She swallowed down the last of her lunch and stood up. “Anko-sensei. I’m ready to go again.”

“You cocky kid, I’ll make you wish you took the full fifteen minutes!”

Sasuke was vaguely reminded of Naruto. _They’re both so loud and stubborn and obnoxious._ She grimaced. _Only this one is a lot more cutthroat._

* * *

Sasuke continued her daily training sessions with Anko for the next two weeks. Finally, it was the day of the mission to guard the Feudal Lord on his birthday.

_My first chunin mission. You’ve got this Sasuke._

She met at the Hokage’s office with her teammates for this mission. Sasuke was pleasantly surprised to see one familiar face. “You’re Ino’s sensei. Are you coming on this mission too?” She addressed Asuma.

He sighed. “Yeah. I don’t want to rain on your first chunin level mission, but these types are always so boring. You just have to waltz around and make small talk with a bunch of important dignitaries.”

He paused and scratched his beard. “Although it might be good for an up and coming kunoichi like you to start making connections.”

Two more people entered the room, a large man Sasuke assumed was an Akimichi and a Hyuuga.

Tsunade entered the room with her assistant Shizune following behind her.

She sat down and announced in a booming voice, “Sarutobi Asuma, son of the late Third Hokage and former member of the guardian twelve, Akimichi Shito of the renowned Akimichi clan, Uchiha Sasuke of the renowned Uchiha clan, and Hyuuga Haruto of the Hyuuga main branch. You all have been either personally requested by the Feudal family or chosen based on your clan affiliation. This is not to infer that you do not have the skills necessary to complete this mission, only a reminder that this mission is very much political in nature. Do your very best to be poised, professional, and alert.” Tsunade looked at each individual as she talked, stressing her point to them.

“You will be accompanied by a team led by our very own Nara Shikamaru as well as some guests of Sunagakure. They will be there as a show of good will between our two villages and to a larger extent our two nations in the aftermath of their attack on our village.” Tsunade informed the shinobi sternly.

Shizune stepped forward and cleared her throat. “You all were delivered scrolls detailing your specific duties for this event, if you have any questions please direct them to your team leader Asuma. Otherwise, head out.”

With that they were dismissed.

* * *

Sasuke arrived in tow with her teammates. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw who was accompanying Shikamaru.

“You three? What are you all doing here?”

The sand siblings turned to look at her. “Oh it’s you.” The blonde girl, Temari waved her hand dismissively at her. “Calm down, we’re here as allies didn’t your Hokage tell you?”

Sasuke scowled.

“Yes, she did. I’m just surprised to see that it’s you three.”

Temari rolled her eyes, “You shouldn’t be. This is a political event and we’re the children of the late Kazekage.”

Sasuke hated to admit that she made sense.

Asuma called the teams together.

“I’m making a quick adjustment from the previous plan. Temari and Sasuke, I’d like you to guard the main entrance.”

Sasuke jumped up. _I’m being moved? I was supposed to be in the main hall where all the guests are._

Asuma continued. “Shikamaru, I’d like you to join me in the main hall.”

“Excuse me, what’s going on? Why did you move me?” Sasuke pointedly asked him.

He looked surprised. “The main entrance is the point of contact for all the guests, your keen eyes should be able to spot any troublemakers immediately. It makes more sense.” He shrugged and continued into the Feudal Lord’s manor, his hand on Shikamaru’s back. They walked away laughing and talking.

Sasuke was seething.

She walked to the front gate with Temari.

They sat in silence for the next four hours, Sasuke seething.

She couldn’t take it anymore.

“This is ridiculous, we have to stand here while the others get to have a night off and party with all the important people in the Land of Fire. I was specifically assigned to be in the main hall with the guests, who does Asuma think he is relocating me?”

Temari rolled her eyes. “Welcome to the real world.”

A drunken man stumbled up to them and belched, holding onto the wall for support. Temari sighed and looked away.

“Just great.” She mumbled.

Sasuke followed her lead.

The man reached out and grabbed Sasuke’s hair rubbing it between his thumb and index finger.

_What’s his fucking problem._

“Hey how old are you?” He asked looking her up and down.

“Tsch. Too young for you geezer.” She slapped his hand away. _Just what I need, somebody clawing at me at all night._

“You don’t have to be such a bitch about it.” He threw his drink at her feet and stormed off.

Sasuke scowled. “What’s his problem. Asshole.” She shook her feet, trying to dry her shoes.

Temari snorted beside her. “We’re kunoichi, what else did you expect? We’re supposed to put up with lewd comments, be accommodating, and know our place. We don’t get to be strong on our own merits, we exist to bolster men into action and fuel some bullshit notion that they have a duty to protect us.” She scoffed. “We’re nothing but taboo in their world. Look at the three prohibitions for god’s sake. Avoid alcohol, women, and money. We’re nothing but a temptation to them, an object to avoid or use as they see fit.”

Temari was also fed up with her position at the entrance, ranting at Sasuke. _I’m the eldest child for crying out loud but no, Kankuro and Gaara are in there talking it up and I’m here stuck out in the cold._

Sasuke couldn’t deny the bitter truth that Temari was spewing.

“We are stuck out here doing all the grunt work when an entire gathering of influential people is inside, out of our grasp. Do you think your buddy Shikamaru is guarding some door right now or do you think he is walking with Asuma and talking to lords and councilors? I can assure you it is the second scenario.”

Sasuke looked up at the moon. “You’re probably right. I just expected this to be different than what it’s turning out to be.”

She couldn’t help the passing thought that flitted through her mind. _Orochimaru wouldn’t be forcing me to guard a door._

She shook her head, chasing the thought away.

Temari sighed and leaned against the door frame. “Well, at least we have each other to pass the time. Let’s try and pass the _next_ four hours a little quicker.”

“Hn.” Sasuke closed her eyes and hummed in agreement. “So, Gaara seems…different these days.”

Temari just laughed. “Yeah you could say that.”

Temari and Sasuke spent the rest of the night talking and commiserating over their shared experience.

* * *

Sasuke jumped back into her training the next morning. Anko met her at their usual training ground, noticing her pupil was more agitated that normal.

Sasuke brought her knee up and kicked her leg forward, demolishing a training post, sending shards of wood flying.

“Hey there kiddo, how was the mission? You letting off some stress right now?” She joked in a mocking tone.

Sasuke didn’t respond, instead she chose to punch the ground, bloodying her hand. She pulled it back and flexed her hand open and close a few times. _It doesn’t seem to be too messed up._

“Okay, I was joking before but now we should talk. What’s going on?” Anko stepped forward, placing her hand on her student’s shoulder.

Sasuke stopped her aggressive movements and sighed. “I’m just thinking about the downfalls of being a woman.”

“Hmmm, that’s a very interesting topic to be thinking about. What sparked that?”

“Well, there were some incidents last night and that got me thinking about all of the _real_ missions I’ve been on.” She slumped down to the ground and laid back, looking at the passing clouds. “When I was guarding a man on a mission to the Land of Waves, he kept staring at my butt. There was no discussion of it at all and last night I was moved to the most menial position available along with the only other female and then an old man touched me without asking and asked how old I was. Does it ever change? Or am I forced to pull weeds and paint fences if I want to avoid this bullshit. Why does nobody seem to take it seriously? I’m sick of it!”

Anko laughed. “Men don’t understand. You were experiencing sexual harassment and Kakashi did nothing about it. You were propositioned for sex and Asuma did nothing about it. They don’t see it as a harmful thing. Being demeaned to sex wears down on you, but what can you do? In this line of work, nothing comes easy. If you can’t handle it get out.” She shrugged and ate another dumpling.

“So those are your words of wisdom.” Sasuke shook her head and watched the clouds pass. “I suppose you’re right.”

“I know I’m right. Now let’s focus on what you can change. Build your strength and next time an opportunity like that arises, don’t wait for Asuma or whoever the next man in charge is to show you around just jump in and introduce yourself. It’s as simple as that.” Anko jumped up from her seat and clapped her hands together. She held her hand out to Sasuke and pulled her up.

“Now, let’s put that crap mission behind you and get to work. I have a summoning contract I’d like to pass onto you, assuming that they accept you.”

Sasuke perked up. “A summoning contract? With whom?”

Anko grinned, “A bunch of snakes.”

_Finally, I’m moving forward._

* * *

Sasuke was feeling better. _Yesterday was only a temporary setback, today is a new day._

The snakes had accepted her contract. Anko gave her a book on the different types of snakes. _As a snake master I will have to know all the different species and their capabilities in order to know who to summon in various scenarios._

She would go to the grocery store, stock up on tea and get to studying. She bounded across the street to the store.

She saw a familiar face in the aisle picking out a blend of herbal teas. “Kakashi? I wouldn’t take you for a hibiscus man.”

He perked his head up. “Ah Sasuke, it’s been a while. How’s Anko treating you?”

“She’s been incredible. I think it’s really good for me to be with her.” She smiled wistfully.

Kakashi pretended her words and contemplative tone didn’t send a pang of jealousy through him. “Well I’m glad to hear that. Some people think that she’s quite intense.”

Sasuke scoffed. “Intensity isn’t necessarily bad.”

There was a tense moment between them.

“How did your mission go yesterday? Asuma came back this morning quite partied out.” He chuckled.

“I think we had a different experience.” She stated flatly. “But the kunoichi Temari from Suna was a good person to have met.” Sasuke mulled over her words and what she wanted to say before deciding instead to say, “Hopefully missions get a little more interesting from here on out.”

Kakashi nodded. “Interesting can be good, it can also be quite dangerous. There’s no need to rush into the real dangerous ones.”

“Hn.” _But danger is how I get closer to Itachi._ “What have you been up to Kakashi?”

“I’ve had a few missions, we’re still pretty short staffed from the attack on the village but it seems like things will be slowing down in the next few months. When that happens, we should get together for training, for old times sake.” He smiled at her through his mask.

“Yes, that would be nice. I can show you what Anko’s been teaching me.” She teased.

“I’d like to see that.” He chuckled. “You know you can always come to me, with anything really. If you need help honing your sharingan or even just to decompress. I’m still your sensei.”

“Thanks, Kakashi. I’ll remember that.” She looked at the wall of tea options and grabbed a box of jasmine green tea. “I should be heading out now though, I have a lot of reading to do.” She motioned to the book in her hand.

“Ah yes, she shared her summoning contract with you. That will certainly take a lot of studying. See you around Sasuke.”

She waved and walked to the cash register.

Kakashi was left alone, struggling with the vague feeling that he was being replaced. _You really need to work on your abandonment issues._ He sighed.

* * *

Sasuke was sipping on her tea and looking over the introduction of the book. She was suddenly struck with the feeling that she was wasting time.

_Dammit Sasuke, the list of the dead! How many weeks has it been since you first had the idea to check?_

She jumped out of her chair, a sense of urgency telling her she needed to go now.

Sasuke wasn’t sure where she should start her search. She figured that a good first guess would be the library. The library assistant gave her all the information she had on the Uchiha clan, but there were no death records in any of the documents.

“Excuse me. I’ve read through everything, but it doesn’t have what I was looking for. Where would one find death records?” Sasuke asked the assistant with frizzy hair and oversized glasses.

“Death records? I would assume that all the death records would be catalogued at the hospital.”

Sasuke nodded. “If they didn’t die in the hospital would it still be recorded there?”

“Hm. That’s a good question. My only other guess would be that if they didn’t die in a hospital there’s likely a police report on the event. You can request a copy of all police records that are over 7 years.”

“Ah. I see. Thank you.” Sasuke sighed.

_So I’m back to square one._

She was struck by a memory. _That man… what was his name? Sukea! He helped us break into the ANBU records room. They were the ones who investigated that incident…_

She thought for a moment. _Could I really do that by myself?_

She had to try.

She waited for the cover of darkness. From her memory she wormed her way through the building to the records room. Her lockpicking skills had improved since her first attempt and she found her way in with ease. She silently shut the door behind her.

Near the entrance was a directory chained to the front desk. Sasuke skimmed through it looking for anything with ‘Uchiha’ in it. She passed by all of the individual names to subjects. ‘Uchiha District’ to ‘Uchiha History’ and finally ‘Uchiha Massacre.’ _Wait. Uchiha Surveillance?_

The odd title jumped out to her from the bottom of the page.

Before flipping to the ‘Uchiha Massacre’ section she flipped to ‘Uchiha Surveillance.’ _Row 31 section 10.45._

Then she flipped to ‘Uchiha Massacre.’ _Row 40 section 20.10._

She quietly put the directory back and stealthily moved to row 31. She moved to section 10.45 and pulled out the book.

_What the hell is this? Why are there so many documents here?_

She skimmed through; the piles of paper meaningless to her until she saw two familiar names signed at the bottom of the date sheet. _Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi._ She froze. The next chunk of papers all marked with detailed observations had the same signatures at the bottom. She heard a man laughing from down the hall. She ripped a chunk of the papers out and tucked them in her pants.

She quickly moved to row 40 and pulled out the binder on the massacre. She whipped through the pages, finding the list she had been waiting for. ‘Official Registry of Deaths’ was written across the top of the certificate in gold lettering. She counted through the names; it was an even 200. _What does that mean? How did an additional 97 people die if not by Itachi’s hands?_

She felt a hand clamp down on her mouth.

“You certainly shouldn’t be here.”

* * *

Sasuke was escorted through a maze of hallways by two ANBU members. She felt her heart race. Silently she cursed her luck. No one knew where she went that evening, and no one would know she was here now. She knew she should trust the elite members of the shinobi forces, but the whole process was unnerving.

They opened a set of metal doors and she stepped forward into a dimly lit room.

“Sasuke. You don’t know me, but I knew your brother very well.” She looked apprehensively at the elderly man in front of her. “My name is Danzo.”

He was sitting cross legged on a mat on the ground, flanked by two ANBU members in their masks. His head was wrapped in a bandage that covered the left side of his face.

He motioned for her to take a seat of the ground in front of him.

“You’ve been looking into the tragic events of the Uchiha massacre, I hear.” His one steely eye stared straight through her.

Sasuke had to suppress a shiver that threatened to run down her spine.

“May I ask why you were looking into a list of all the dead from that night?”

Sasuke felt compelled to lie but it was as if some unknown force was preventing her from doing so. _Is this his jutsu, or just a side effect of his commanding presence?_

“When I encountered Itachi he put me in a genjustu. In that genjutsu he showed me the deaths of everyone he killed that night over and over again. After a while, I saw that there were some people missing from this genjutsu. I wasn’t sure what it meant but I counted that there were 103 deaths in his genjutsu and 200 total dead according to the official list.” She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from talking more.

 _Don’t give him any more information, dammit!_ Sasuke sensed that this was a dangerous man sitting before her, any more information on what she knew would only make him more powerful.

“And what do you imagine is the significance of that?” He asked.

Sasuke swallowed the lump in her throat and willed herself to lie. “After some careful consideration, I realized all it meant was that he either killed the rest of our clan before or after showing me the scenes he did. There were some inconsistencies in the loop anyways so I believe he just had to cobble the images together and for some reason thought that the deaths he showed me would be the most impactful.” _I hate to admit it, but Itachi would not be dumb enough to make a shoddy mistake like that. Hopefully he buys it._

Sasuke stared blankly at him, hiding her intent beneath a layer of disinterest.

Danzo nodded. “I agree with your assessment. Please, put that night out of your mind. It is tragic but there’s no underlying secrecy involved in it. A rising young kunoichi like you should be focusing on your training.”

He uncrossed his legs and stood up.

“Sasuke, let me escort you to the exit.”

She stood up to follow him. _Thank god this is over._

They maneuvered through a maze of hallways.

“Sasuke, before I let you go I’m sure I don’t need to mention that this visit is to remain absolutely a secret.” He didn’t bother looking at her as he said it. “I of course will also not mention to your higherups that you broke into ANBU’s record room.”

“Yes sir.” She walked out into the dark night.

He watched her walk away. He turned to the ANBU guards behind him. “Make sure she goes home. I want guards watching her for the next few weeks.” He paused, “Or until I’m confident she wasn’t lying to me.” He limped away, heading back to his chambers.

Danzo failed to notice the eyes peering at him from the shadows.

* * *

Kakashi was walking home from a night of drinking with Jiraiya. He was setting off the next day with Naruto in tow.

He found that he would miss the hyperactive young boy.

He felt a familiar chakra signature tailing him, hiding in the shadows.

Kakashi stopped his walking. “Tenzo. Come on out.”

A brown-haired man stepped out from his hiding spot, an ANBU mask covering his face. He removed his mask and smiled lightly at his senior, distressed to be the bearer of bad news.

“Kakashi-senpai. Keep an eye on your student. She was with Danzo tonight.” He slipped back into the shadows and disappeared.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. _Shit._

* * *

Sasuke opened her door and slipped into her apartment. She felt her hands shake. _What did all of this mean?_

She slipped her shoes off and walked to her room. She didn’t bother taking her clothes off before crawling into bed. The paper in her pants crinkled and she quietly pulled them out, stashing them underneath her mattress.

_Who was Kakashi really? How is he associated with Itachi?_

Her breathing hitched and she felt a wave of panic run through her. _Could he have something to do with the massacre?_

She remembered the dour look on Danzo’s face. _Did I just put a target on my back_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Danzo doesn't trust Sasuke. She has put a target on her back by snooping into the massacre.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where the story ends for now. I will pick up after the time skip in another work, part of this same collection. Thank for reading and leaving kudos and comments!

Sasuke didn’t sleep that night. She tossed and turned and although she didn’t feel anyone watching her, she figured that it was safe to assume Danzo had sent guards to watch her movements. She didn’t know for how long or where they were watching from, but she kept up a normal morning routine just to be safe.

That morning was the morning Naruto would be setting off on his training program with Jiraiya. All of team 7 was planning on meeting up and giving him a farewell.

Sasuke felt her pulse race at the thought of having to see Kakashi. _Did he kill my family?_ The thought made her want to vomit.

No, she couldn’t jump to conclusions, and that was quite the conclusion to jump to.

Still, she couldn’t deny the fact that his signature was on the bottom of pages alongside Itachi’s, monitoring the movements of her clan members.

_At the very least, he knew my brother more that he ever let on._

_Maybe I’m just paranoid now._

She pushed half of her blanket of the edge of her bed, covering her hand as she grabbed the papers she took from the records room and stashed away. She stuffed them in her waistband and locked herself in the bathroom. She turned the shower on and ran the fan. She slumped down to the floor and read through the stack of papers, using her sharingan to retain the information and then throwing the papers in the shower, letting the pulp disintegrate. There was nothing damning in those papers, just the comings and goings and monitoring when they had met for clan meetings.

When she had read the last page, she stepped into the shower and rinsed herself. _What does it all mean?_

She wrapped herself in a towel and walked out to her closet, picking out a white knit sweater and navy leggings.

_I just have to act normal today, I’m not ready to confront Kakashi._

She ate an apple from the pantry and walked to meet her teammates at the gates. Naruto was waiting there alone, anxious to get started.

“Hey! Sasuke!” He waved at her rapidly, his backpack swaying back and forth from his movements.

“Hey Naruto.” She waltzed up to him.

“I’m so excited to be leaving! We’re planning on traveling to surrounding nations not just the Land of Fire. He’s already promised to teach me more techniques for chakra control and honing my summoning technique and-” He yammered on.

Sasuke felt an ache in her heart. She interrupted him. “Naruto, I’m really going to miss you.”

He blinked in surprise. “I’m going to miss you too Sasuke. But don’t forget, I still plan on writing you tons of letters.”

Sasuke pulled him into a big hug. “Exactly, you’re promising me right now that you’ll write letters so don’t you dare forget.”

She squeezed him tighter. “Happy early birthday by the way. I’m sad we won’t get to spend it together.”

Naruto felt his eyes well with tears and squeezed her back. “Thanks, Sasuke. I wish I could spend it with you too.”

They pulled apart.

Sakura ran up to them. “Hey! Don’t get all sentimental without me.” She put her hands on her hips.

Naruto blinked away his tears.

“Heh. I know you’re jealous but don’t worry I only have eyes for you Sakura!”

Sakura rolled her eyes. She refrained from punching him. _A medic heals, not hurts,_ she repeated in her mind.

“I’m going to miss your antics Naruto.” She pulled him into a hug. They pulled apart and all looked around at each other, feeling a sadness in the air.

“We’ll meet up again one day, stronger than ever. Believe it!” Naruto held his fist out.

“I’ll make sure I catch up to you two.” Sakura gave a big thumbs up, a mannerism she was starting to pick up from hanging out with Lee lately.

“Hn. Don’t disappoint me. I won’t let myself be held back by weak teammates and team 7 has to regroup stronger than ever.” Sasuke crossed her arms and smirked.

Kakashi and Jiraiya strolled up to them.

Kakashi leaned down towards Naruto and ruffled his hair. “You’ll do just fine under Master Jiraiya’s tutelage. I can’t wait for you to return.”

Naruto rubbed his finger under his nose. “Heh. I’ll make sure I give you a run for your money Kakashi-sensei.”

Kakashi chuckled. “I can’t wait for that to happen.”

The sun rose high in the sky. Jiraiya looked up at the sun.

“Naruto, we should start heading out. It’s getting late in the day.”

Naruto nodded somberly.

“I’ll be back everyone, don’t get too sad without me!” He grinned widely at them and turned to walk away.

Sasuke watched him disappear into the forest trail.

“I have to get back to the hospital, Shizune is showing us how to administer flu shots.” Sakura stated. “See you two around.” She skipped back into town, leaving Kakashi and Sasuke there alone.

He turned to face his former student. “Sasuke, I want to talk to you about something. Would you like to come over? Or perhaps I can impose myself on you and invite myself to your apartment.” His voice remained calm, there was no intonation signaling he was asking a question.

“I’m very busy today, maybe this is something we can talk about later.” She turned to walk away. He walked in front of her path.

“This really shouldn’t wait. Let’s talk in your apartment. I’ll walk you there.” He was keenly aware of the ANBU guards following her. It wasn’t so long ago that he was a member himself and he was still privy to their tactics and techniques.

They walked in silence.

Kakashi’s mind was racing, so was Sasuke’s. They were, however, fixated on very different things.

Sasuke opened her front door. Her heart was racing. _If I have to fight back, I will. Anko’s made me stronger than before. Whatever he’s planning I can counteract._

Kakashi locked the door and walked over to her window. He pulled the blinds down.

“Okay Sasuke. I want you to be very honest with me.” He turned to face her.

“Why were you meeting with Danzo last night?”

Sasuke kept her face neutral. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

He frowned underneath his mask. “I’m not angry, I’m worried. He isn’t a good man.”

Sasuke scoffed. “That’s an interesting thing for someone like you to say.”

He narrowed his eye. “What did he tell you? He’s a master at manipulation, don’t let yourself fall for his tricks.”

“Excuse me? I’m not an idiot Kakashi.”

“I didn’t say you were.” _Shit, she’s already second guessing her allies, Danzo works quickly._

“Whatever he told you about me is intended to make you doubt your trusted people, he isolates others and that’s when he makes his move, offering a position in his organization. He manipulates and takes advantage of people.” _He’s almost as bad as Orochimaru._

“You seem concerned. I can assure you that I never met with this person, and if I _had_ he didn’t say anything about you.” Sasuke felt her anger starting to boil over her anxiety.

“But you know, I wouldn’t need an outside party to put doubts in my head about you Kakashi. I know things.”

 _Keep it together Sasuke, there’s strategy in withholding information._ But she found that she was unable to do so.

“Why the hell were you and my brother keeping tabs on the Uchiha years before the massacre even occurred?”

Kakashi was too surprised to lie his way through her accusation. “How the hell do you know about that?” His voice was deadly quiet.

“I broke into the ANBU records room yesterday. I saw the stacks of reports and observations on our movements. Imagine my surprise when I found stacks of papers that were signed by you and Itachi. Who are you?”

“You broke into the ANBU records room? Did nobody stop you? Why would you do something so reckless and _illegal?_ Sasuke, what is going on with you?” Kakashi yelled at her. _Dammit! Orochimaru is still fresh in everyone’s minds, if they find out she is breaking into restricted areas they could think he’s manipulating her for information._

Sasuke clenched her fists, her nails dug into her palms. “I want answers Kakashi, if you can’t give me any then leave.” She spat out.

“Like hell I’m leaving.” He crossed his arms and moved towards her. Her gripped her arms and dropped down to stare straight in her eyes.

“What’s going on with you?”

“Did you help Itachi?” Sasuke bore straight into his soul, daring him to lie.

“What?! How can you accuse me of such a thing!”

Sasuke scoffed and shook her head. “All you can do is act outraged. You haven’t answered a single question.”

“Sasuke all of what you’re asking is highly classified.”

She scowled. “You’re so concerned about me hanging around Danzo, but maybe I should be worried about you? You seem to be carrying a lot of secrets around.”

Kakashi tightened his grip. “Your brother was a member of the ANBU black-ops, so was I. Of course we worked together at times. I would never have dared help him with his sick, awful actions that night. How could you even think that? The observation of the Uchiha was standard procedure.”

_You can’t let her know about the coup, maybe one day but not now Kakashi._

“The fact that Itachi was there observing alongside me is a good thing Sasuke. Those were his clansmen, it helped bring a positive perspective to their movements. There was lots of observation of our own citizens during those days, tensions were high following the attack on Konoha by the nine tails but that’s a thing of the past. Please believe me.”

Sasuke was conflicted. She wanted to trust someone, she wanted to rely on this man before her. His story made sense, but she couldn’t help but wonder at it. _It still doesn’t explain the mismatch in numbers of the dead. Did Itachi have a partner? If it wasn’t Kakashi, who was it? Am I choosing to believe his story?_

Sasuke examined the intensity in his one visible eye, the crease of his forehead visible beneath his headband, and the desperation of his hands as he gripped her arms. She decided to believe him. For now.

She chose, however, not to tell him about her suspicions that someone else _did_ help Itachi with his mass murder. _An outsider or someone from the village?_

She slumped in his arms and put her head on his shoulder. He loosened his grip on her and pulled her tight against him. She burrowed in deeper into the awkward embrace. _Even if I can’t trust him completely, he’s still an ally and he’s choosing to be here._

Kakashi took a few calming breaths. He was surprised at how shook her accusations had made him. Losing a precious bond to death was one thing, losing one to deceit was something he wasn’t accustomed to.

_Danzo almost took Tenzo from me, he won’t get Sasuke._

He composed himself and pulled away, holding her out at arm’s length.

“Now, tell me about breaking into the ANBU records room. That’s something that the higher ups in the village should be aware of. I’ll support you and defend you if you get flack for it, but we need to tell someone that security is lacking. There are a lot of sensitive documents hidden there.”

Sasuke nodded. “Remember when we tried to find your ninja registration photo and a photographer named Sukea helped us break in?”

Kakashi kept his face blank. “Yes, I seem to remember someone by that name. What about him?”

“Well, I thought that he had the right idea. But this time I went alone and not with three other people. I snuck through the hallways; they hadn’t changed their routine since that time, so it was easy to avoid the guards, and picked the lock to the records room. Then I looked through the directory at the front desk and found what I was looking for. I was searching through the documents when an ANBU guard took me away. Well, you know by now. It was Danzo, but I’m not supposed to tell anyone about our meeting.”

Kakashi felt the corner of his mouth twitch up into a brief smile. _That Sukea sure caused some trouble for me._

“Sasuke, what were you looking for there?”

_Shit. I didn’t mean to reveal this much._

Sasuke remained quiet. “I was looking for information on Orochimaru, but when I saw the entry for ‘Uchiha surveillance’ I got curious and looked through the documents there.” She lied smoothly.

Kakashi nodded. “This isn’t praise, ,” He looked sternly at her, “but I’m very impressed you managed to do that.”

He stood up and let out a deep sigh. “Okay, I want you to come with me to the Hokage’s tower. We can tell her what happened and about Danzo. It’s likely that he is having his men follow you so try and act normal. Okay?”

She nodded.

They left her apartment and they walked casually to the Hokage’s tower.

Kakashi knocked on her office door and she called them in.

“Kakashi? This is unexpected. And Sasuke? What a surprise.”

“Lady Tsunade. We have something to tell you.”

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. “Oh?” She let her mind race.

Sasuke cleared her throat. “I was looking for information on Orochimaru and in order to do that I broke into the ANBU records room.”

“You what?” Tsunade was more surprised than angry. “How did a thirteen-year-old child manage to do that?”

Kakashi told her about everything, including Danzo and his request that Sasuke keep their meeting secret.

Tsunade gripped her mug so hard it shattered in her hand.

“That Danzo can’t keep well enough alone.” She took a deep breath in. “I’ll give the ANBU hell for missing a child breaking into our most classified area. Let’s keep this all between us for now. I’m not sure what I want to do yet. Sasuke, don’t sneak around anymore.” Tsunade rubbed her temple. _This job is going to make me age faster than I can regenerate my cells._

“I’ll have Anko keep an eye on you. I’m sure once she beats some sense into you, you’ll shape up to be an excellent kunoichi. Just don’t break any more laws, okay?”

“Yes Lady Tsunade.”

“You’re dismissed.”

Kakashi and Sasuke left her office.

They strolled in silence.

“Sasuke, I’m not lying when I say that you can come to me with anything.”

“I know.”

She turned down to road to her apartment, aware of Kakashi’s eyes following her until she disappeared from his sight.

* * *

The next morning Sasuke woke up, put on her training outfit and went to seek out Anko.

She found her sitting in a sweets shop, eating dango and drinking tea.

“Anko-sensei. I want to train today.”

Anko chewed her food and swallowed in a big gulp.

“Sheesh. Haven’t you heard of taking a day off? I got better things to do than hang out with some kid every day.”

“This is important. Please sensei. I have a goal I need to reach.”

Anko sighed. “Have you read through the book I gave you?”

Sasuke stuttered out, “Well, ah no I haven’t.”

Anko groaned. “Finish reading that and when you have all of the details memorized, come back and I’ll train you. There’s more to strength than just brute strength, although heh, that is important. If I’m being honest it’s my personal favorite part of the job but I’m getting off track- finish the book and then come back. Okay?”

Sasuke bit her lip. “Yes sensei. “

Sasuke spent the next week learning, memorizing, and quizzing herself about snakes. When she felt confident, she sought out Anko.

She found her at the sweets shop again.

“Anko-sensei. I’m ready this time.”

Anko nodded. “Okay, you’re in the Land of Water on an island. Your opponents have set up camp and you need to break through their ranks. What’s your move?”

Sasuke thought for a moment and then answered, “I would summon black-banded sea krait. They live in warm ocean waters and typically hang out in coral reefs; it wouldn’t be atypical to see these snakes in shallower waters as they need air every 6 hours. They can be eaten as a delicacy in some parts of the country so a shinobi from the Land of Waves wouldn’t feel threatened by their presence if one were to surface. However, they are highly venomous. Using the black-banded sea krait, I would force him to attack the shinobi and poison them, immobilizing the enemy forces.”

Anko nodded, “That’s a solid choice. Non-threatening to a native of that land but deadly when needed.”

She finished her plate of desserts and stood up.

“Alright. Let’s go to our normal training ground.”

They headed there and turned to face each other.

Anko narrowed her eyes and got serious.

“In three years Orochimaru is going to need a new vessel in order to maintain his immortality. He’s made it clear that he intends to make you that vessel. If you want to survive past that and reach your goal, you’ll need to be tough.”

“I’m ready Anko-sensei. He’s just a distraction from what I really want to accomplish. Please, continue to give me the full force of your training.”

She dropped into an offensive stance.

Anko laughed in her face. “These next three years are going to be hell, but you’ll tough it out. Now come on, attack me with everything you’ve got.”

Sasuke lunged forward, seeing her goal come closer.

 _I’m coming for you Itachi, and whoever your accomplice was I’ll find them too._


End file.
